§ 1.1  BOOK I. — EPITOME.
Athenaeus is the father of this book, which he addresses to Timocrates. The Sophist at Dinner is its title, and the subject is a banquet given by a wealthy Roman named Larensis, who has summoned as guests the men of his time most learned in their several branches of knowledge. Not one of their excellent sayings has Athenaeus failed to mention. For he has contrived to bring into his book an account of fishes, their uses and names with their derivations; also vegetables of all sorts and animals of every description; historians, poets, philosophers, musical instruments, innumerable kinds of jests; he has also described drinking-cups in all their variety, the wealth of kings, the size of ships, and other matters so numerous that I could not easily mention them all; for the day would fail me if I undertook to enumerate them kind by kind. In short, the plan of the discourse reflects the rich bounty of a feast, and the arrangement of the book the courses of the dinner. Such is the delightful feast of reason which this wonderful steward, Athenaeus, introduces, and then, surpassing even himself, like the Athenian orators, he is so carried away by the ardour of his eloquence that he passes on by leaps and bounds to the further portions of his book.

§ 1.2  Now the wiseacres assumed to have been present at the banquet are: Masurius, a jurist, who had devoted no slight attention to all kinds of learning; a poet, too, of unique excellence, a man second to none in general culture, who had pursued diligently the complete round of academic studies. For whatever the subject in which he displayed his learning, he made it appear as though that had been his only study, such was the encyclopaedic range in which he had been nurtured from boyhood. He was, as Athenaeus says, a satiric poet not inferior to any of the successors of Archilochus. Present, too, were Plutarch, Leonides of Elis, Aemilianus Maurus, and Zoilus, wittiest of philologians. Of philosophers there were Pontianus and Democritus, both of Nicomedia, excelling all in wide erudition; Philadelphus of Ptolemais, a man not merely bred in philosophic contemplation, but also of tried experience in life generally. Of the Cynics there was one he calls Cynulcus ("dog-catcher"); for not only "two fleet hounds followed" him, like Telemachus going to the Assembly, but many more than were in Actaeon's pack. Of orators there was a company as numerous as that of the Cynics, against whom, as well as all the other speakers, Ulpian of Tyre inveighed. He, through the constant investigation which he carries on at all hours in the streets, public walks, bookshops, and baths, has won a name that distinguishes him better than his own, Ceituceitus (GR: keitai e ou keitai). This gentleman observed a law peculiar to himself, of never tasting food until he had asked whether or not a word was to be found in literature: is, for example, the word hora ("season") found signifying part of a day? Is methysos ("drunken") found applied to a man? Is metra ("womb") found as the name of a viand, or the compound syagros said of a boar? And among physicians there were Daphnus of Ephesus, pure in character as he was sacred in profession, no amateur in his grasp of the doctrines of the Academy; Galen of Pergamum, who has published more works on philosophy and medicine than all his predecessors, and in the exposition of his art as capable as any of the ancients; also Rufinus of Nicaea. And a musician was there, Alceides of Alexandria. In fact this list, as Athenaeus says, was more like a muster-roll than a list of guests at a banquet.

§ 1.3  Athenaeus dramatizes the dialogue in imitation of Plato. At any rate it begins thus:
"Were you, Athenaeus, present in person at that noble assembly of men now known as Deipnosophists, which has been so much talked of about the town? Or was the account you gave to your friends derived from someone else?" "I was there myself, Timocrates." "Will you not, then, consent to let us also share in that noble talk you had over your cups? For 'to those who thrice wipe the mouth the gods give a better portion,' as, I believe, the poet of Cyrene says. Or are we to inquire of somebody else?"

§ 1.3a  Presently he launches into a eulogy of Larensis and says: "He took pride in gathering about him many men of culture and entertained them with conversation as well as with the things proper to a banquet, now proposing topics worthy of inquiry, now disclosing solutions of his own; for he never put his questions without previous study, or in a haphazard way, but with the utmost critical, even Socratic, acumen, so that all admired the keen observation shown by his questions." Athenaeus says of him, too, that he had been placed in charge of temples and kings by the most excellent Emperor Marcus, and administered the Greek as well as the national rites of Rome. He calls him also a kind of Asteropaeus, because he excelled all the rest in both tongues, Greek as well as Latin. He says also that Larensis was well versed in the religious ceremonies established by Romulus, who gave his name to Rome, and by Numa Pompilius, and he was learned in political institutions. All this he had acquired unaided, by a study of ancient decrees and ordinances and from a compilation of laws

§ 1.4  which the jurists no longer teach. They were "already a sealed book" as the comic poet Eupolis says of Pindar's poetry, "because of the decay of popular taste." In explanation, Athenaeus says that he owned so many ancient Greek books that he surpassed all who have been celebrated for their large libraries, including Polycrates of Samos, Peisistratus the tyrant of Athens, Eucleides, likewise an Athenian, Nicocrates of Cyprus, the kings of Pergamum, Euripides the poet, Aristotle the philosopher, Theophrastus, and Neleus, who preserved the books of the two last named. From Neleus, he says, our King Ptolemy, surnamed Philadelphus, purchased them all and transferred them with those which he had procured at Athens and at Rhodes to his beautiful capital, Alexandria. Therefore one will be inclined to apply to Larensis the words of Antiphanes: "Thou art ever ranged on the side of the Muses and sound reason, when a work of art is put to the test." Or, as the lyric poet of Thebes sings, "His delight is in the fair flower of the Muses, in wit which makes our unceasing sport about the friendly table." Again, by his invitations to hospitality he made all feel that Rome was their native land. "For who can suffer from homesickness when in the company of one who keeps his house wide open to his friends?" As the comic poet Apollodorus says: "When a man enters a friend's house, he may, Nicophon, discover his friend's welcome as soon as he enters the door. The janitor smiles at him, the dog wags his tail and comes to him, a slave rises to meet him and promptly sets a chair for him, even though not a word be spoken."

§ 1.5  The rest of your rich men ought to be like that. For to those who do not practise such hospitality one may say, "Why are you so niggardly? 'Surely thy tents are full of wine; spread a bountiful feast for the elders. It is fitting for thee.'" Such was Alexander the Great in his munificence. Conon, too, after he had defeated the Lacedemonians in the sea-fight off Cnidus and surrounded Peiraeus with a wall, offered a hecatomb — a real one, and not falsely so called — at which he feasted all Athens. And when Alcibiades won first, second, and fourth places at Olympia in a chariot-race — in honour of which even Euripides wrote a hymn of victory — he sacrificed to the Olympian Zeus and entertained the entire assemblage. The same was done at Olympia by Leophron, and Simonides of Cos wrote the hymn. Empedocles of Agrigentum won a horse race at Olympia. Being a Pythagorean and an abstainer from animal food, he made an ox out of myrrh, frankincense, and the most costly spices, and divided it among the people who came to the festival. Again the Chian poet, Ion, when victor with a tragedy at Athens, gave every Athenian a jar of Chian wine. "For what other reason," wrote Antiphanes, "would a man pray the gods to give him wealth and abundance of means, than that he may help his friends and sow the harvest of gratitude, that sweet goddess? For in drinking and eating we all take the same pleasure; but it needs not rich feasts to quell hunger." Xenocrates of Chalcedon and Speusippus the Academician and Aristotle wrote on the laws of kings.
And again, there was Tellias of Agrigentum, a hospitable man who welcomed all comers, and when five hundred horsemen from Gela once stopped at his house in the winter season, he gave each a tunic and a cloak. "Your dinner-chasing sophist" is a phrase used by Athenaeus.

§ 1.6  Clearchus says that Charmus the Syracusan had verses and proverbs ready for every dish served at his banquets. Thus, for the fish, "From the salt depths of Aegean am I come." For the shell-fish called "heralds" he would say, "Hail, ye heralds, messengers of Zeus." For the lambs' and kids' entrails, "Twisted these, in no wise sound." For the squid, stuffed with mince-meat, "Wise art thou, wise!" For the boiled dressing made of tiny fish, "Rid me of this mob, won't you?" For the skinned eel, "I draw no veil of clustering curls before me." Many such persons, he says, attended the dinner given by Larensis, bringing, as it were, contributions to a picnic, their literary lore tied up in rolls of bedding. He says, too, that Charmus, by having something ready to quote for each of the dishes served, as has just been explained, enjoyed the reputation among the Messenians of being highly cultivated. So also Calliphanes, he who was called the son of Voracious, had copied out the beginnings of numerous poems and speeches, and could repeat as many as three or four lines, thus seeking to win repute for wide learning. Many others also had at their tongues' end Sicilian lampreys, eels that float on the water's surface, stomachs of tunnies caught off Pachynum, the young goats of Melos, the fish of Sciathos called "fasters"; and among things of less note, Peloric shells, Lipara sprats, the Mantinean turnip, rape from Thebes, and beets from Ascra. Cleanthes of Tarentum, according to Clearchus, used to recite in verse everything he said at a symposium. So did Pamphilus the Sicel. For example, "Pour me out a draught to drink, and leg of partridge give me." "A chamber-pot or cake with cheese let some one bring me quickly." They whose substance is secure, Athenaeus remarks, need not labour with their hands to feed their bellies. Aristophanes uses the expression, "carrying fish-baskets full of decrees."

§ 1.7  Archestratus of Syracuse (or was it Gela?) in a work which Chrysippus entitles "Gastronomia," but which Lynceus and Callimachus call "The Art of High Living," Clearchus, "The Art of Dining," others, "The Art of Fine Cookery" — the poem is in epic verse and begins, "Of learning I offer proof to all Hellas" — says: "Let all dine at a single daintily-furnished table. There should be three or four in all, or at most not more than five. Else we should presently have a tentful of freebooters, robbers of victuals." He is unaware that in Plato's messroom there were eight and twenty. "For these fellows are always on the lookout for the dinners in town, and shrewdly fly to them without an invitation," says Antiphanes, who continues:
"Men whom the people ought to support from the public treasury; and just as at Olympia, it is said, a special ox is sacrificed for the benefit of the flies, so ought they on all occasions slaughter one first for the benefit of the uninvited."

§ 1.8  But "some flowers bloom in summer, and some in the winter season" as the Syracusan poet says. It is not, to be sure, feasible to serve all things at the same time, yet it is easy to talk about them. There have been treatises on banquets by other writers, and in particular by Timachidas of Rhodes, who wrote one in epic verse in eleven, or possibly more, books. There are other works by Numenius of Heracleia, the pupil of the physician Dieuches; Matreas of Pitane, the parodist; and Hegemon of Thasos — his nick-name was "Lentil" — whom some place among the writers of the Old Comedy. Artemidorus, falsely called an Aristophanean, collected words pertaining to cookery. A book called The Banquet by Philoxenus of Leucas is mentioned by the comic poet Plato: A. Here, in this solitary place, I propose to read this book to myself. — B. And what is it, pray? — A. It's a new book on cooking by Philoxenus. — B. Show me what it is like. — A. Listen then: 'I will begin with the bulb, and end with the tale of the tunny.' — B. The tunny? Then it is much the best to be stationed right there, in the rear rank! — A. 'Smother the bulbs in the ashes, moisten with sauce, and eat as many as you will, for they exalt a man's parts. So much, then, for that. And now I come to the ocean's offspring.' After a little he proceeds:
'For them the casserole is not bad, though I think the frying-pan better.'
And a little further:
'The sea-perch, the turbot, the fish with even teeth and with jagged teeth must not be sliced, else the vengeance of the gods may breathe upon you. Rather, bake and serve them whole, for it is much better so. The wriggling polyp, if it be rather large, is much better boiled than baked, if you beat it until it is tender. But the devil may take the boiled, say I, if I can get two that are baked. As for the red mullet, that will give no strength to the glands. For she is a daughter of the virgin Artemis and loathes the rising passion. Again, the scorpion . . .'
— B. May it creep up and take a bite out of your buttocks!"

§ 1.9  From this Philoxenus certain flat cakes came to be named "Philoxenei." Concerning him Chrysippus says: "I remember a certain gourmand, who was so far lost to all feelings of shame before his companions, no matter what happened, that in the public baths he accustomed his hand to heat by plunging it into hot water, and gargled his throat with hot water that he might not shrink from hot food. For they used to say that he had actually won the cooks over to serving the dishes very hot, his object being to eat up everything alone, since nobody else was able to follow his example." The same story is told also of Philoxenus of Cythera, of Archytas, and several others, one of whom says, in a comedy by Crobylus: "A. I've got fingers that are veritably Idaean against these viands so excessively hot, and I like to give my throat a vapour bath with hot slices of meat. — B. He must be a chimney, not a human being." And Clearchus says that Philoxenus, having first taken a bath, would go round among the houses in his own city and others as well, followed by slaves carrying oil, wine, fish-paste, vinegar, and other relishes, then he would enter a house, albeit a stranger's, and season whatever was cooking for the rest of the company, put in what was lacking. When all was ready, he would bend over and greedily enjoy the feast. He once landed at Ephesus, and finding the victualler's shop empty inquired the cause. When he learned that everything had been sold out for a wedding, he bathed and went uninvited to the bridegroom's house. And after the dinner he sang the wedding song beginning "Marriage, most radiant deity," and delighted the whole company. For he was a dithyrambic poet. And the groom said, "Philoxenus, shall you dine in this way tomorrow also?" "Yes," said Philoxenus, "if there be no victuals for sale."

§ 1.10  Now Theophilus says "Unlike Philoxenus the son of Eryxis; for he, seemingly finding fault with nature's provision for the enjoyment of food, prayed that he might have the neck of a crane. But he might have done much better to wish to become a horse or an ox or a camel or an elephant; for in that case desires and pleasures are much greater and more intense, since their enjoyment is in proportion to the animals' strength." And Clearchus, speaking of Melanthius, says that he prayed thus: "Melanthius, it appears, has conceived a better plan than Tithonius. For Tithonius longed for immortality, but now hangs in his chamber, old age having deprived him of all pleasures; whereas Melanthius, loving the delights of food, prayed that he might have the gullet of that long-necked bird, that he might linger long over his pleasures." The same authority says that Pithyllus, called the gourmand, wore a covering for the tongue made of membrane, and sheathed his tongue besides for greater enjoyment, and, at the end of the feast, he would powder some dried fish skin and purge the tongue. And he is the only gourmand who is said to have eaten food with finger-shields, desiring (the wretch!) to offer it to his tongue as hot as he could. Others call Philoxenus "the fish-lover," but Aristotle calls him in general "dinner-lover." He also writes, I believe, as follows: "They deliver claptrap orations wherever crowds collect, wasting the livelong day in jugglers' tricks, and among the adventurers who come from the Phasis or the Borysthenes, though they have never read anything but Philoxenus's Banquet, and that not entire."

§ 1.11  Phaenias says that Philoxenus, the poet of Cythera, who was devoted to dainty food, was once dining with Dionysius, and when he saw that a large mullet had been set before Dionysius, while a small one had been served to himself, he took it up in his hands and placed it to his ear. When Dionysius asked him why he did that, Philoxenus answered that he was writing a poem on Galatea and desired to ask the mullet some questions about Nereus and his daughters. And the creature, on being asked, had answered that she had been caught when too young, and therefore had not joined Nereus's company; but her sister, the one set before Dionysius, was older, and knew accurately all he wished to learn. So Dionysius, with a laugh, sent him the mullet that had been served to himself. Moreover, Dionysius was fond of drinking deep in company with Philoxenus. But when Philoxenus was detected in the act of seducing the king's mistress Galatea, he was thrown into the quarries. There he wrote his Cyclops, telling the story of what had happened to him, and representing Dionysius as Cyclops, the flute-girl as the nymph Galatea, and himself as Odysseus.

§ 1.12  There lived in the days of Tiberius a man named Apicius, an exceedingly rich voluptuary, from whom many kinds of cakes are called Apician. He had lavished countless sums on his belly in Minturnae, a city of Campania, and lived there eating mostly high-priced prawns, which grow bigger there than the largest prawns of Smyrna or the lobsters of Alexandria. Now he heard that they also grew to excessive size in Libya, so he sailed forth without a day's delay, encountering very bad weather on the voyage. When he drew near those regions, fishermen sailed to meet him before he left his ship (for the report of his coming had spread far and wide among the Libyans), and brought to him their best prawns. On seeing them he asked if they had any that were larger, and on their answering that none grew larger than those they had brought, he bethought himself of the prawns in Minturnae and told the pilot to sail back by the same route to Italy without so much as approaching the shore. Aristoxenus, the Cyrenaic philosopher, practised literally the system of philosophy which arose in his country, and from him a kind of ham specially prepared is called Aristoxenus; in his excess of luxury he used to water the lettuce in his garden at evening with wine and honey, and taking them up in the morning used to say that they were blanched cakes produced by the earth for him.

§ 1.13  When the Emperor Trajan was in Parthia, many days' journey away from the sea, Apicius caused fresh oysters to be sent to him in packing carefully devised by himself. He was better served than Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, when he desired anchovy, he also living too far away from the sea; for a cook made an imitation of fish and served this to him. At any rate, the cook in Euphron, the comic poet, says: "A. I was a pupil of Soterides, who, when Nicomedes was twelve days' journey from the sea and desired an anchovy in the middle of winter, served it to him — Zeus be my witness! — so that all cried out in wonder. — B. But how could that be? — A. He took a fresh turnip and cut in slices thin and long, shaping it just like the anchovy. Then he parboiled it, poured oil upon it, sprinkled salt to taste, spread on the top exactly forty seeds of black poppy, and satisfied the king's desire in far-away Scythia. And when Nicomedes had tasted the turnip, he sang the praise of anchovy to his friends. The cook and the poet are just alike: the art of each lies in his brain."

§ 1.14  Archilochus, the poet of Paros, speaks of Pericles as bursting uninvited into a drinking company "like a Myconian." It appears that the people of Myconos had a bad name for greed and avarice because they were poverty-stricken and lived on a wretched island; at any rate, the greedy Ischomachus is called Myconian by Cratinus; "How could you, of all persons, be generous, being the son of Ischomachus the Myconian?" A brave man I, among brave men I have come to dine. For common are the goods of friends. But the passage from Archilochus is this: "Though drinking much wine — and that unmixed with water — thou hast not paid the scot . . . and uninvited, too, thou camest, as an intimate friend might do. Nay, thy belly hath perverted thy heart and soul to shamelessness." Eubulus, the comic poet, says, I believe: "There are, among our guests invited to dinner, two invincibles, Philocrates and — Philocrates! For I count him, though one, as two (and lusty too); yes, even as three. Once, they say, he had been asked out to dine by some friend who told him to come when the shadow on the dial measured twenty feet. So at dawn he began to measure when the sun was rising, and when the shadow was too long by more than a couple of feet he came to dine, and said that he had arrived a little late because of business engagements — though he had come at daybreak!" Amphis the comic poet says that "whosoever is late at a free dinner you may guess would desert right soon the ranks in battle"; and Chrysippus says, "The goblet which cost nothing thou shalt not neglect." Again, "The free goblet must not be neglected; nay, it must be pursued." Antiphanes also says: "That is the life the gods lead, when you can dine at others' expense with no thought of the reckoning." And again: "My life is blessed indeed! I must ever discover some new device to get a morsel for my jaws." These jests have I brought from home to the banquet, after careful rehearsal, for I, too, wanted to have my house-rent ready to pay when I came. "For we bards ever sacrifice without smoke." Yet the notion of eating alone was not unknown among the ancients. Antiphanes: "You eat alone! That's a wilful injury to me." Ameipsias: "To the devil with you, solitary eater and house-breaker!" The Life of the Heroes in Homer:

§ 1.15  Homer saw that moderation is the first and most appropriate virtue of the young, harmoniously joining together and enhancing all that is fair; and since he wished to implant it anew from beginning to end so that his heroes might spend their leisure and their endeavour on noble deeds and be helpful to each other and share their goods with one another, he made their way of living frugal and contented. For he considered that passions and pleasures become very strong, and that foremost among them and innate are the desires for eating and drinking, and that they who abide resolutely in frugality are well-disciplined and self-controlled in all the exigencies of life. He has, therefore, ascribed a simple manner of life to all, the same, too, for kings as for subjects, for young as for old, when he says: "And to his side she drew a polished table; and the grave housekeeper brought bread and set it before them." "And the carver took platters of meat and set them before them."
Now this meat, too, was roasted, and was for the most part beef. Excepting this he never places before them anything, whether at a festival or a wedding or any other gathering. And yet he often makes Agamemnon entertain his chieftains at dinner; no entrees served in fig-leaves, no rare titbit or milk-cakes, or honey-cakes, does Homer serve as choice dainties for his kings, but only viands by which body and soul might enjoy strength. And so after the duel Agamemnon especially "rewarded Ajax with the chine of oxen." And to Nestor, by this time an old man, and to Phoenix, he gives roast meat, meaning to restrain us from riotous desires. And it was so with Alcinous, whose choice inclined to a luxury life; he feasted the Phaeacians, who lived most luxuriously, and entertained the stranger Odysseus; he shows him the well-appointed house and garden, and then causes the same simple fare to be placed before him. Menelaus, also, when he celebrated the nuptials of his children, at the time when Telemachus came to visit him, "took and set before them the roasted ox-chine, which they had served to him as his own meed of honour." And Nestor also, though a king who had many subjects, sacrificed cattle to Poseidon at the seaside by the hand of the children most near and dear to him, exhorting them in these words: "Nay then, let one go to the field for a heifer," and the rest. For that sort of sacrifice, made by men who are devoted and loyal, is holier and more acceptable to the gods. Even the suitors, insolent though they were, and recklessly given over to pleasure, are not represented as eating fish or birds or honey-cakes, for Homer strenuously excludes the tricks of the culinary art, the viands which Menander calls aphrodisiac, and that mentioned in many authors under the name of lastaurokakabos (as Chrysippus says in his work On Pleasure and the Good), the preparation of which is rather elaborate.

§ 1.16  The Priam of Homer, too, reproaches his sons for consuming what custom prohibits: "Plunderers of lambs and kids belonging to your own countrymen!" Philochorus records that at Athens no one was allowed to taste the flesh of an unshorn lamb, because at one time there had occurred a dearth of these animals. Although Homer describes the Hellespont as teeming with fish, and pictures the Phaeacians as devoted to the sea, and although he knows that in Ithaca there are several harbours and many islands near the shore abounding in fish and wild fowl, and moreover counts the sea's bounty in supplying fish as an element of prosperity, he nevertheless never represents anyone as eating any of these creatures. What is more, he does not place fruit upon the board either, though it was abundant and he mentions it in a delightful passage, representing it as never failing throughout the year: "Pear upon pear," he says, and all the rest. What is more, he also does not picture the wearing of chaplets or the use of unguents, any more than the burning of incense. On the contrary, his characters are free of all such conventions, and the foremost of them are singled out for freedom and independence. Even to the gods he ascribes a simple regimen of nectar and ambrosia. He pictures human beings as honouring the gods in their diet, denying to them the use of frankincense or myrrh or wreaths or similar luxuries. And even this simple food they do not enjoy greedily, according to him, but like an excellent physician, he forbids satiety, saying, "when they had banished desire for eating and drinking." And after his heroes had satisfied their appetite some would be off to athletic practice, "amusing themselves with discus and spear," in sport training themselves for serious work; while others would listen to the harpists as they set to melody and rhythm the deeds of heroes.

§ 1.17  It is no wonder, therefore, that men nourished in this fashion should be free from the excitements of body and soul. By way, then, of showing that moderate living is healthful, beneficial, and adapted for all, he has portrayed Nestor, wisest of men, as offering wine to the physician Machaon when he was wounded in the right shoulder, although Nestor was a bitter foe of passion; and the wine he gives is Pramneian, too, which we know was heavy and filling. It was no "cure for thirst," but rather a device for stuffing the belly; at any rate, although Machaon has already drunk, Nestor urges him to continue, saying, "Be seated, and drink." He then scrapes some goat's milk cheese over the wine and adds an onion as a relish to make him drink more. And yet in another passage Homer says that wine relaxes and enervates bodily vigour. As for Hector, Hecuba, hoping that he will stay in the city the rest of the day, invites him to pour a libation and drink, thinking thereby to excite him to gaiety. But he puts it off and goes forth to action. She insistently praises wine, but he rejects it, though panting for breath when he comes before her. She urges him to pour a libation and drink, but he thinks it unholy when he is covered with the blood of battle. Still, Homer recognizes the usefulness of wine in moderation when he says that he who quaffs too eagerly injures himself. He also understands various degrees of mixing; for Achilles would not have directed that "the purer sort be mixed" had not some sort of mixing been a daily custom. It may be that the poet was not aware that wine is too easily carried off through the pores if there be no admixture of solid food, a fact well known to physicians in practice; at any rate, for patients suffering from cardiac disorders they mix some cereal food and wine together in order to retain its effect. Nestor, however, gives Machaon his wine mixed with meal and cheese; and the poet makes Odysseus combine the advantages derived from food and wine together in the verse, "The man who has had his fill of wine and food." To a hard drinker he gives the "sweet draught," as he calls it: "In it stood casks of wine, the old sweet draught."

§ 1.18  Homer also represents young girls and women as bathing their guests, Evidently believing that when men have lived honorable and chaste lives, women do not kindle violent passion in them. This is an ancient practice; at any rate, the daughters of Cocalus bathed Minos, as though it were customary, when he came to Sicily. By way of denouncing drunkenness the poet portrays Cyclops, for all his great size, as completely overcome, when drunk, by a small person; likewise the centaur Eurytion; and so he changes the men who visited Circe into lions and wolves because of their self-indulgence, whereas Odysseus is saved because he obeys the admonition of Hermes, and therefore comes off unscathed. But he makes Elpenor, who indulges too freely in wine, and is given to luxury, break his neck by a fall. And Antinous, the very one who says to Odysseus "the sweet wine is affecting thee," could not abstain from drinking himself; therefore he too was "affected," and lost his life with the cup still in his hand. Homer also represents the Greeks as drunk when they sailed away, and that is why they fell to quarrelling and were destroyed.
He also tells how Aeneas, though most skilled in counsel among the Trojans, because of his outspoken language inspired by drink and because of the boastful threats he had uttered to the Trojans when in his cups, resisted the onslaught of Achilles, and so nearly lost his life. Agamemnon, too, says somewhere of himself, "Since I was undone by yielding to my baleful spirit, or because I was drunken with wine, or because the gods themselves did blast me," thus putting drunkenness in the same scale with madness. (With this interpretation have these same verses been cited by Dioscurides, disciple of Isocrates.) And Achilles, when reviling Agamemnon, calls him "Heavy with wine, with the eyes of a dog." Thus spoke "the Thessalian wit," that is, the wise man of Thessaly.

§ 1.19  In the matter of meals, the heroes of Homer took first the so-called akratisma, or breakfast, which he calls ariston. This he mentions once in the Odyssey: "Odysseus and the godlike swineherd kindled a fire and prepared breakfast." And once in the Iliad: "Quickly they set to work and prepared breakfast." He calls the morning meal embroma; we call it akratismos, because we eat pieces of bread sopped in unmixed (akratos) wine. So Antiphanes retains the Homeric usage: "While the cook is getting breakfast," immediately continuing, "Have you time to join me at breakfast?" Cantharus also identifies ariston and akratismos: "A. Let us, then, take breakfast here. — B. Not so; we will breakfast at the Isthmus." Aristomenes: "I'll get a little breakfast, a bite or two of bread, and then come back." But Philemon says that the ancients had four meals, akratisma, ariston, hesperisma ("evening meal") and deipnon ("dinner"). Now the akratisma they called breaking the fast, the ariston ("luncheon") they called deipnon, the evening meal dorpestos, the dinner epidorpis. In Aeschylus may be found the proper order of these terms, in the verses wherein Palamedes is made to say: "I appointed captains of divisions and of hundreds over the host, and meals I taught them to distinguish, breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, third." The fourth meal is mentioned by Homer in these words: "Go thou when thou hast supped," referring to what some call deilinon, which comes between our ariston and deipnon ("dinner"). So ariston, in Homer, is the meal eaten in the early morning, whereas deipnon is the noon meal which we today call ariston, and dorpon is the evening meal. Perhaps, also, deipnon in Homer is sometimes synonymous with ariston; for of the morning meal he somewhere said: "They then took their deipnon, and after that began to arm for battle;" that is, immediately after sunrise and the deipnon, they go forth to fight.

§ 1.20  In Homer men feast sitting. Certain authorities also think that a separate table is set before each diner. In the case of Mentes, at any rate, they assert that a "polished table" was placed before him when he visited Telemachus, although the tables had already been set out. But this is not a conclusive settlement of the question; for it is possible that Athena dined from the same table as Telemachus. Throughout the banquet the tables remained before them fully spread, as is still the custom today among many foreign peoples, "completely covered o'er with divers good things," as Anacreon has it. After the guest withdrew, "the maids carried away much food as well as the table and the cups." But the banquet in the scene at Menelaus's palace is peculiar. For after eating, the guests converse; then they wash their hands and eat once more, and still later, after their lamentation, they bethink them of supper. The notion that the tables were removed is seemingly refuted by the verse in the Iliad: "He had been eating and drinking, and the table still stood beside him." Accordingly we must read the line thus: "Eating and drinking still, while the table stood beside him." Or else we must explain the contradiction by the special circumstances. For how could it have been decent for Achilles, then in mourning, to have a table set before him just as it is for revellers throughout an entire symposium? Loaves of bread were served in baskets, but at dinner only roast meat was known. "Homer," observes Antiphanes, "never made broth when he sacrificed oxen, nor did he boil the flesh or the brains, but he roasted even the entrails. So very old-fashioned was he."

§ 1.21  Now of the meat, also, portions were equally divided, whence he calls banquets "equal" because of the equality observed. Dinners were called daites from dateisthai, "to divide," and wine as well as meat was equally apportioned: "By this time we had satisfied our souls with the equal feast." Again: "Your health, Achilles! Of the equal feast we are in no want." Hence Zenodotus was convinced that an "equal" feast meant a "goodly feast." For since food is a necessary good for man, Homer, he asserts, calls it "equal," using an extended form of the word; for primitive men, who, of course, did not have abundant food, would fall upon it pell-mell as soon as it appeared, and forcibly snatch and wrest it from those who had it, so that in the midst of this disorder bloodshed would actually occur. So it was, probably, that the word atasthalia ("wickedness") came into use, because it was amid festivity (thalia) that men first sinned against one another. But when, through Demeter's bounty, they came to have plenty, they would divide it equally to each, and in this way men came to sup in orderly fashion. Thus, also, comes the conception of "loaf" as a due portion, and of cake divided up into equal portions, and of "goblets" for drinkers challenging in their turn. In fact, these terms arose when men were progressing toward fair dealing. And so the meal is called dais from daiesthai, "divide," that is, to distribute in equal portions; and the roaster of meat is daitros, or "divider," because he gave an equal portion to everybody. In fact, it is only of human beings that the poet uses the word dais, but when he comes to beasts, never. But Zenodotus, unaware of the etymology of the word, writes in his edition of Homer, "gave their bodies to be a prey to dogs and a feast (dais) to birds," dignifying by this name the food of vultures and other birds of prey, although man alone progresses from primitive violence to fair dealing. Hence only man's food can be dais, and his "lot" is what is given to everybody. In Homer the feasters were not in the habit of carrying home anything left over, but after satisfying themselves they left it behind where they had dined. The housekeeper would take and keep it, so that if a stranger arrived she might have something to give him.

§ 1.22  Now Homer even represents the men of those times as eating fish and birds. In Thrinacia, anyway, Odysseus's companions catch "fishes and fowls and whatever came to their hands, with bended hooks." For surely the hooks had not been forged in Thrinacia, but must have been brought with them on the voyage, which proves that they had had practice and skill in catching fish. Moreover, the poet compares those companions of Odysseus who had been snatched by Scylla, to fish caught on a long pole and flung out upon the shore. He thus shows a more exact understanding of this art than the authors of systematic poems and treatises on it, I mean Caecalus of Argos, Numenius of Heracleia, Pancrates of Arcadia, Poseidonius of Corinth, and Oppian of Cilicia, who was born a little before us. These make a considerable number of writers on angling in epic verse that we have found, while in prose there are the works of Seleucus of Tarsus, Leonidas of Byzantium, and Agathocles of Atrax. Still, Homer never mentions such food in connexion with banquets, evidently because these viands were not considered appropriate to the heroes of high rank, any more than he mentions the eating of young animals. But they also ate oysters as well as fish, though the eating of them affords little benefit or pleasure, especially as they lie deep at the bottom of the sea, and there is no way of getting them except by diving to the bottom. "Verily, a nimble man he, who diveth easily;" of whom he also says, "Many would he satisfy by diving for oysters."

§ 1.23  Before every feaster in Homer a cup is set. In the case of Demodocus, at least, there are furnished a basket, a table, and a cup "for drinking whensoe'er his heart bade him." And "the mixing-bowls are crowned with the beverage," that is, they are filled to the brim, so as to be "crowned" with the wine. This they did because they regarded it as a good omen. And "the young men distribute it to all, after the drink-offering has been poured into the cups." The word "all" refers to the men, not to the cups. At any rate, Alcinous says to Pontonous, "Serve wine to all in the hall," continuing, "So, then, he measured it out to all, after he had poured the drink-offering into the cups." There are also special honours at dinner for the bravest. For example, Tydeides is honoured "with meat and full cups," and Ajax is rewarded "with chines cut the whole length," and the chieftains also receive the same: "The chine of an ox, which they set before him," meaning Menelaus. So Agamemnon honours Idomeneus "with full cup," and Sarpedon is honoured among the Lycians in the same way, and also with meat and a special chair. Drinking a health was accompanied by a hand-clasp. Thus the gods "at the golden cups clasped one another," that is, gave each other the right hand as they pledged one another; and someone "clasped Achilles," instead of "gave him the right hand," i.e. he pledged him while extending the cup in his right hand. They used also to present a part of their own portion to anyone they liked, just as Odysseus cuts off for Demodocus some of the chine which they had served to him.

§ 1.24  They were also in the habit, as the suitors show, of employing at symposia singers accompanied by the lyre, and dancers. At Menelaus's palace "the divine minstrel sang," and two tumblers whirled about as leaders in the mirth; this word molpe ("mirth") is for our paidia ("sport"). Yet there was a certain sobriety in the minstrel tribe, who took the place of the philosophers of our time. Agamemnon, for example, leaves a minstrel behind to guard and counsel Clytaemnestra. His business was first to dilate on the virtues of women and inspire emulation for uprightness, and secondly, to furnish pleasant entertainment to divert her mind from low thoughts. Hence Aegisthus could not corrupt the lady until he had murdered the bard on a desert island. This character is found also in the bard who sang under compulsion before the suitors, for he spoke out his detestation of the suitors who beset Penelope. We may say in general that Homer calls all bards "reverend" in men's eyes, "for this is why the Muse hath taught them in the ways of song, and loved the tribe of minstrels." Demodocus at the Phaeacian court sings of the amours of Ares and Aphrodite, not in approval of such passion, but to deter his hearers from illicit desires, or else because he knew that they had been brought up in a luxurious mode of life and therefore offered for their amusement what was most in keeping with their character. And to the suitors Phemius sings with the same intent the return of the Achaeans. The Sirens also sing to Odysseus the things most likely to please him, reciting what would appeal to his ambition and knowledge. "For we know," say they, "all other things and all that shall befall upon the fruitful earth as well."

§ 1.25  The dances in Homer are, in some cases, performed by tumblers, in others, accompanied by ball-playing, the invention of which is ascribed to Nausicaa by Agallis, the Corcyraean savante, who naturally favoured her own countrywoman. But Dicaearchus credits to the Sikyonians, while Hippasus makes the Lacedemonians pioneers in this as in all gymnastic exercises. Nausicaa is the only one of his heroines whom Homer introduces playing ball. Famous ball-players were Demoteles, brother of Theocritus the Chian sophist; also one Chaerephanes. He, when following a licentious young man, would not converse with him, and moreover prevented the young fellow from inducing his passion. So the young man said, "Chaerephanes, if you will stop following me you shall have of me everything you desire." "What!" he replied; "I converse with you?" "Why, then," said the young man, "do you persist in following me?" To this he answered, "I like to look at you, but I do not approve of your morals." The folliculus, as it was called (it was apparently a kind of ball), was invented by Atticus of Naples, trainer of Pompeius Magnus, as an aid in physical exercise. The ball-game now called harpastum was formerly called phaininda, which is the kind I like best of all.

§ 1.26  Great are the exertion and fatigue attendant upon contests of ball-playing, and violent twisting and turning of the neck. Hence Antiphanes: "Damn me, what a pain I've got in my neck!"
He describes the game of phaininda thus: "He seized the ball and passed it with a laugh to one, while the other player he dodged; from one he pushed it out of the way, while he raised another player to his feet amid resounding shouts of 'out of bounds,' 'too far,' 'right beside him,' 'over his head,' 'on the ground,' 'up in the air,' 'too short,' 'pass it back in the scrimmage.'" The game was called phaininda either from the players shooting the ball or because, according to Juba the Mauretanian, its inventor was the trainer Phainestius. So Antiphanes: "You went to play phaininda in the gymnasium of Phainestius." Ball-players also paid attention to graceful movement. Damoxenus, at any rate, says: "A youngster, perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old, was once playing ball. He came from Cos; that island, it is plain, produces gods. Whenever he cast his eye upon us seated there, as he caught or threw the ball, we shouted together, 'What rhythm! what modesty of manner, what skill!' Whatever he said or did, gentlemen, he seemed a miracle of beauty. Never before have I heard of or seen such grace. Something would have happened to me if I had stayed longer; as it is, I feel that I am not quite well." Even Ctesibius, the philosopher of Chalcis, liked to play ball, and many of King Antigonus's friends would strip for a game with him. Timocrates the Laconian wrote a treatise on ball-playing.

§ 1.27  But the Phaeacians in Homer also dance without a ball. And they dance rapidly in turn, I suppose (since this is the meaning of "tossing rapidly to and fro"), while others stand by and beat time by snapping the fingers, which is expressed by the verb "snap." The poet also knows of the practice of dancing with song accompaniment. For Demodocus sang while "boys in their first bloom" danced, and in the Forging of the Arms a boy played the lyre while others opposite him "frisked about to the music and the dance." Here there is an allusion to the style of the hyporcheme, which became popular in the time of Xenodemus and Pindar. This variety of dance is an imitation of acts which can be interpreted by words. Xenophon, with customary elegance, describes it in the Anabasis as occurring at the symposium held in the house of the Thracian Seuthes. He says: "When they had poured libations and sang the paean, the Thracians rose up to begin the programme, and danced in armour to a flute accompaniment. They leaped high and lightly, and brandished their knives. At the climax one struck the other; and all the audience thought he had received a deadly blow. Down he fell with artful grace, and all the Paphlagonians at the dinner shouted aloud. Then the first dancer despoiled the other of his arms and made his exit with the Sitalcas song, while other Thracians carried off the victim as though he were dead. But he wasn't hurt at all. Following him the Aenianians and Magnesians arose and danced in armour the karpaia, as it is called. The nature of the dance was this: One performer lays aside his arms and begins to sow and plow, often turning around as if in fear; a robber approaches, and when the first dancer sees him he snatches up his arms and fights in front of his oxen, keeping time with the flute music; finally the robber binds the man and drives off the team; but sometimes also the ploughman overcomes the robber, ties his hands behind his back, and drives him alongside the oxen." Another performer described by Xenophon danced "The Persian," clashing his wicker shields and alternately squatting and standing up. All this he did in rhythm, with flute accompaniment. He then describes the Arcadians, who rose up in full armour and marched in step to the warlike measures of the flute, neatly adapting themselves to the rhythm while they danced.

§ 1.28  The Homeric heroes used both flutes and Pan's pipes. Agamemnon, for example, "hears the sound of flutes and pipes." Homer has not introduced them at symposia, but in the Forging of the Arms he mentions the flutes at the celebration of a wedding, and flutes he ascribes to barbarians; it was among Trojans, at least, that "the sound of flutes and pipes" arose. They poured libations at the conclusion of dinner and offered them to Hermes, not, as in later times, to Zeus the Fulfiller. For Hermes is regarded as the patron of sleep. So they pour the libation to him also when the tongues of the animals are cut out on leaving a dinner. Tongues are sacred to him because he is the god of eloquence. Homer also knows of a variety of meats, for he speaks of "viands of every sort" and "dainties such as Zeus-cherished princes eat." He is acquainted likewise with all the sumptuousness of our modern world. Of human dwellings, to be sure, the most splendid was the palace of Menelaus, which he conceives of as having virtually the same splendid equipment as Polybius ascribes to the house of a certain Iberian prince, of whom he says that he had emulated the luxury of the Phaeacians, except for the gold and silver bowls, filled with barley wine, which stood within the house. But in describing Calypso's house, Homer causes Hermes to stand in wonder at it. A joyous life is that which he ascribes to the Phaeacians, "for dear to us ever is the banquet and the lyre," etc. . . .
"These verses," says Eratosthenes, are written thus: 'As for me, I assert that there is no more perfect delight than when merriment reigns and baseness is absent, and feasters in the halls listen to the bard' — meaning by 'baseness is absent' 'senseless folly.' For the Phaeacians could not but be men of good sense, since, as Nausicaa says, the gods loved them."

§ 1.29  The suitors in Homer amused themselves by playing "draughts before the doors." They could not have learned the game from the celebrated Diodorus or Theodorus, or the Mitylenaean Leon, whose ancestry was Athenian, and who, according to Phaenias, was never beaten at draughts. Apion of Alexandria says that he actually heard Cteson of Ithaca tell what sort of game the suitors played. "The suitors," he says, "numbered one hundred and eight, and divided the counters between opposing sides, each side equal in number according to the number of players themselves, so that there were fifty-four on a side. A small space was left between them, and in this middle space they set one counter which they called Penelope; this they made the mark to be thrown at with another counter. They then drew lots, and the one who drew the first took aim. If a player succeeded in pushing Penelope forward, he moved his piece to the position occupied by her before being hit and thrust out, then again setting up Penelope he would try to hit her with his own piece from the second position which he occupied. If he hit her without touching any other player's piece, he won the game and had high hopes of marrying her. Eurymachus had won the greatest number of victories in this game, and looked forward to his marriage with confidence." In this way, because of their easy life, the suitors' arms were so flabby that they could not even begin to stretch the bow. Even the servants who ministered to them were given over to luxury. Very potent, in Homer, is the scent of unguents. "If it were but shaken in the bronze-floored mansion of Zeus, yet its fragrance went out to earth and heaven." Homer also knows of couches highly adorned, such as Arete bids spread for Odysseus; and Nestor boasts to Telemachus that he is rich in them.

§ 1.30  Now among other poets it has sometimes been the practice to trace the extravagance and ease of their own times back to the time of the Trojan War. Aeschylus, for example, represents the Greeks as so indecently drunk that they break the chamber-pots on one another's heads. At any rate, he says: "Here is that knave who poured over me that mirth-provoking missile, the unsavoury pot, and missed not; and on my head it struck and was wrecked and dashed to pieces, breathing upon something different from the breath of fragrant oil-jars." Sophocles, also, in The Achaeans' Dinner-Guest, says: "But in a burst of anger he threw the unsavoury pot, and missed not: and on my head the vessel was smashed, breathing not of balsam, and the unlovely smell smote me with fright."
Eupolis rebukes the one who first introduced the word "pot" in these terms:
"ALCIBIADES: I loathe their Spartan simplicity, and I'd like to buy a frying-pan.
B. Many the women, I fancy, who have fallen a prey in our time to their lust. —
ALC. . . . And he who invented tippling in the early morning. — B. Ay, there you have hit on the cause of much lechery among us. —
ALC. Well, then, who first said 'slave, a chamber-pot!' in the midst of his drinking? —
B. Yes, that is a wise and Palamedic conceit of yours."
But in Homer the nobles dine decently in Agamemnon's tent, and though, in the Odyssey, Achilles and Odysseus quarrel and Agamemnon "was secretly glad thereat," still their disputes were useful when they were debating whether Ilium was to be taken by stratagem or battle. But even when Homer introduces the suitors as drunk, he does not portray such indecent conduct as Sophocles and Aeschylus have done, but merely mentions the hurling of an ox's foot at Odysseus.

§ 1.31  In their gatherings at dinner the heroes sit instead of reclining, and this sometimes happened at King Alexander's court, according to Duris. Once, at any rate, when he entertained nearly six thousand officers, he seated them on silver stools as well as on couches, spreading purple robes on the seats. Hegesander, too, says that in Macedonia it was not customary for anyone to recline at dinner unless he had speared a wild boar without using a hunting-net. Until then they must eat sitting. Cassander, therefore, at the age of thirty-five continued to sit at meals with his father, being unable to accomplish the feat, though he was brave and a good hunter. And so, with an eye to the seemly, Homer introduced his heroes feasting on nothing else but meat. Moreover, they prepared it for themselves. For it means no ridicule or shame to see them getting a meal and cooking. In fact, they practised self-service from set purpose, and took pride, as Chrysippus says, in the dexterity they possessed in these matters. Odysseus, anyway, asserts that he is skilled as few are "in carving meat and piling up a fire." And in the scene of the Entreaty Patroclus and Achilles prepare everything. When Menelaus, also, celebrates his children's nuptials, the bridegroom Megapenthes pours the wine. But today we have so far degenerated as to recline when we feast.

§ 1.32  Only recently, too, have public baths been introduced, for in the beginning they would not even allow them within the city limits. Their evil effect is set forth by Antiphanes: "To hell with the bath! what a condition it has put me in! It has actually turned me into boiled meat. Anybody, I care not who, might take hold of my skin and scrape it off. Such a cruel thing is hot water."
And Hermippus: "So help me Zeus, a good man ought not to get drunk or bathe in hot water as you are doing." There has also been an increase in the refinements not only of cooks but also of perfumers, so that a body could not be satisfied "even with diving into a tank full of ointment," as Alexis puts it. All too flourishing, also, are the arts pertaining to the making of sweetmeats and the nice luxuries of sexual commerce, resulting even in the invention of sponge suppositories in the belief that they conduce to more frequent intercourse. Theophrastus says that there are certain stimulants so powerful that they can effect as many as seventy connexions, blood being finally excreted. And Phylarchus says that among the presents which the Indian king Sandrocottus sent to Seleucus there were aphrodisiacs so potent that when placed under the feet of lovers they caused, in some, ejaculations like those of fowls, but in others they inhibited them altogether. Even the perversion of music has increased today, and extravagances in clothes and foot-wear have reached a climax.

§ 1.33  But Homer, though he is aware of the existence of unguents, never represented his heroes as anointed with them, except when he describes Paris as "glistening with beauty," precisely as Aphrodite "cleanses the face with beauty." Further, he does not represent them as wearing chaplets either, and yet by the figurative use of the word in a metaphor he indicates that he knew the chaplet. For he says: "the island round which the endless sea stretched like a crown." And again: "all about thee the crown (i.e. circle) of war is ablaze." It is also to be observed that whereas in the Odyssey he represents men as washing their hands before eating, in the Iliad one cannot find them doing that. This is because life in the Odyssey is leisurely, such as men lead who enjoy the luxuries of peace; therefore in this poem they took care of their bodies by baths and ablutions. For the same reason, in such a society they throw jackstones, dance, and play ball. Herodotus is wrong in saying that games were invented in the reign of Atys when there was a famine; for the heroic age antedated his time. But they who lived under the social conditions of the Iliad all but shout, with Pindar, "Hearken, thou Cry of Battle (Alala), Daughter of War (Polemos), prelude to the spears."

§ 1.34  Aristonicus of Carystus, Alexander's ball-player, was made a citizen by the Athenians because of his skill, and a statue was erected to him. For in later times the Greeks came to esteem vulgar skill of hand very highly, more than the ideas of the cultivated intellect. The people of Hestiaea, at any rate, and of Oreus, raised a bronze statue in the theatre of the juggler Theodorus, holding a pebble in his hand. Similarly the Milesians erected one of Archelaus the lyre-player, and although there is no statue of Pindar at Thebes, there is one of the singer Cleon, on which is the inscription: "Behold here the son of Pytheas, Cleon, bard of Thebes, who hath placed upon his brow more laurels than any other mortal, and his fame hath reached the skies. Farewell, Cleon; thou hast glorified they native land of Thebes." According to Polemon, when Alexander razed Thebes to the ground, a refugee placed some money in the hollow cloak of this statue, and when the city was rebuilt he returned and found the money thirty years after. Herodotus, the reciter of mimes, as Hegesander tells us, and Archelaus the dancer, were held in greater esteem than any others at the court of King Antiochus, while his father Antiochus before him had made the sons of Sostratus the flute-players members of his body-guard.

§ 1.35  Among Romans as well as Greeks the vagabond juggler Matreas of Alexandria was held in esteem. He used to say that he kept a beast which devoured itself; whereas even to this day it is debated what that beast of Matreas was. He also composed Problems in parody of Aristotle's, and read them in public: "Why does the sun go down but not dive?" "Why can sponges drink together but not tipple?" "Why can four-drachma pieces be converted, though they never get angry?" The Athenians yielded to Potheinus the marionette-player the very stage on which Euripides and his contemporaries performed their inspired plays. They even set up a statue of Eurycleides in the theatre along with those of Aeschylus and his rivals. And Xenophon the juggler was also held in admiration. He left behind him a pupil, Cratisthenes of Phlious, who could make fire burn spontaneously and invented many other magical tricks to confound men's understanding. Like him also was the juggler Nymphodorus, who, taking offence at the people of Rhegium, as Duris tells us, was the first to ridicule them for their cowardice. And Eudicus the clown enjoyed a great reputation for his imitation of wrestlers and boxers, according to Aristoxenus. The same authority says that Straton of Tarentum was admired for his imitation of dithyrambs, and the Italian Greek Oinonas for his parodies of songs to the harp. He it was who introduced Cyclops whistling and the stranded Odysseus talking bad Greek. And Diopeithes the Locrian, according to Phanodemus, appearing once in Thebes, tied some bladders full of wine and milk under his belt and then squeezed them, pretending that he drew the liquids from his mouth. For similar feats the impersonator Noemon was also famous. There were celebrated jugglers also at Alexander's court — Scymnus of Tarentum, Philistides of Syracuse, and Heracleitus of Mitylene. There have been, too, famous clowns such as Cephisodorus and Pantaleon, and Xenophon mentions the jester Philip.

§ 1.36  Boundaries. — Athenaeus speaks of Rome as "the populace of the world," and says that one would not shoot wide of the mark if he called the city of Rome an epitome of the civilized world; so true is it that one may see at a glance all the cities of the world settled there. Most of them he details with their individual traits, such as the "golden" city of Alexandria, the "beautiful" city of Antioch, the "very lovely" city of Nicomedia, and beyond and above these, "the most radiant of all the towns that Zeus created," meaning Athens. More than one day would fail me if I tried to enumerate all the cities he counts within the heavenly city of Rome — nay, all the days numbered in the year would not be enough, so many are the cities there. Even entire nations are settled there en masse, like the Cappadocians, the Scythians, the Pontians, and more besides. All these, then, the entire populace of the world, he tells us, united in naming the philosopher-dancer of our time "Memphis," quaintly comparing his bodily motions with the oldest and most royal of cities. Concerning it Bacchylides says, "Memphis, untouched by storms, and reedy Nile." This "Memphis" explains the nature of the Pythagorean system, expounding in silent mimicry all its doctrines to us more clearly than they who profess to teach eloquence. Now the first to introduce this "tragic dancing," as it was called, in the style of Memphis, was Bathyllus of Alexandria, who, as Seleucus says, danced in pantomime.

§ 1.37  Aristonicus says that this Bathyllus, together with Pylades, who wrote a treatise on dancing, developed the Italian style of dance out of the comic fling called the cordax, the tragic measures called emmeleia, and the satyr rout called sicinnis (whence the satyrs are also called sicinnistae), the inventor of which was a barbarian named Sicinnus. But others say Sicinnus was a Cretan. Now Pylades' dancing was solemn, expressing passion and variety of character, whereas Bathyllus's was more jolly; in fact he composed a kind of hyporcheme. Sophocles, besides being handsome in his youth, became proficient in dancing and music, while still a lad, under the instruction of Lamprus. After the battle of Salamis, at any rate, he danced to the accompaniment of his lyre round the trophy, naked and anointed with oil. Others say he danced with his cloak on. And when he brought out the Thamyris he played the lyre himself. He also played ball with great skill when he produced the Nausicaa. Even the wise Socrates was fond of the "Memphis" dance, and was often surprised in the act of dancing it, according to Xenophon. He used to say to his acquaintances that dancing was exercise for every limb. For people used to employ the word "dancing" for any physical motion or excitation. Thus Anacreon: "The fair-haired daughters of Zeus danced with light step." And Ion: "So unexpected were these things that his heart danced the more."

§ 1.38  Hermippus says that Theophrastus used to appear at the Peripatos at the regular hour glistening with oil and exquisitely dressed, and after seating himself he gave free play to every motion and gesture in delivering his discourse. On one occasion, while portraying an epicure, he thrust forth his tongue and licked his lips. Men of the old time were careful to gather up their garments decently, and ridiculed those who were negligent about this. Thus Plato in the Theaetetus speaks of men "who could render any service promptly and smartly, but did not know how to throw their cloaks over their shoulders from left to right, as gentlemen should; nor had they ever grasped the fitting harmony of words so that they could rightly sing of the lives of gods and happy men." Sappho derides Andromeda thus: "What peasant woman beguiles thy wit — one who know not how to draw her tattered garments over her ankles?" Philetairus: "Cover your shins! Let your cloak down, poor fool, and don't gather it round you above the knee like a boor!" Hermippus says that Theocritus the Chian criticized Anaximenes' method of dressing as ungentlemanly. And Callistratus, also, disciple of Aristophanes, has abused Aristarchus in a book for his failure to dress himself neatly, since even a detail like this supplies the test of man's culture. Wherefore Alexis, also, says: "This is one trait which I regard as worthy of no gentleman — to walk in the streets with careless gait when one may do it gracefully. For this nobody exacts any toll from us, and one need not bestow any honour in order to receive it again from others. Rather, to them who walk with dignity comes full meed of honour, while they who see it have pleasure, and life has its grace. What man who pretends to have any sense would not win for himself such a reward?"

§ 1.39  Aeschylus, too, besides inventing that comeliness and dignity of dress which Hierophants and Torch-bearers emulate when they put on their vestments, also originated many dance-figures and assigned them to the members of his choruses. For Chamaeleon says that Aeschylus was the first to give poses to his choruses, employing no dance-masters, but devising for himself the figures of the dance, and in general taking upon himself the entire management of the piece. At any rate, it seems that he acted in his own plays. For Aristophanes, certainly (and among the comic poets one may find credible information about the tragedians), makes Aeschylus say of himself: "It was I who gave new poses to the choruses." And again: "I know about his Phrygians, for I was in the audience when they came to help Priam ransom his son who was dead. They made many gestures and poses, this way and that way and the other." Telesis, also (or Telestes), teacher of dancing, invented many figures, and with great art illustrated the sense of what was spoken by motions of his arms. Phillis, the musician of Delos, says that the harp-singers of old allowed few movements of the face, but more with the feet, both in marching and in dance steps. Aristocles, therefore, says that Telestes, Aeschylus's dancer, was so artistic that when he danced the Seven against Thebes he made the action clear simply by dancing. They say, too, that the old poets — Thespis, Pratinas, Cratinus, Phrynichus — were called "dancers" because they not only relied upon the dancing of the chorus for the interpretation of their plays, but, quite apart from their own compositions, they taught dancing to all who wanted instruction. Aeschylus wrote his tragedies when drunk, according to Chamaeleon. Sophocles, anyway, reproached Aeschylus with the remark that even if he wrote as he should, he did it unconsciously.

§ 1.40  National dances are the following: Laconian, Troezenian, Epizephyrian, Cretan, Ionian, and Mantinean; these last were preferred by Aristoxenus because of the motion of the arms. Dancing was held in such esteem and involved such art that Pindar calls Apollo "dancer": "Dancer, Lord of beauty, Thou of the broad quiver, Apollo!" And Homer, or one of the Homeridae, in the Hymn to Apollo says, "Apollo, with lyre in hand, harped sweetly the while he stepped forth high and gracefully." And Eumelus of Corinth (or was it Arctinus?) introduces Zeus as a dancer with the words: "And in their midst danced the father of gods and men." But Theophrastus says that Andron, the flute-player of Catana, was the first to add rhythmical motions of the body to the playing of the flute; hence, "to do the Sicel" meant "to dance" among the ancients. After him there was Cleolas of Thebes. Famous dancers also were Bolbus, mentioned by Cratinus and Callias, and Zeno of Crete, a great favourite of Artaxerxes, mentioned by Ctesias. Alexander, too, in his letter to Philoxenus, mentions Theodorus and Chrysippus.

§ 1.41  Timon of Phlious, the satirist, calls the Museum a bird-cage, by way of ridiculing the philosophers who got their living there because they are fed like the choicest birds in a coop: "Many there be that batten in populous Egypt, well-propped pedants who quarrel without end in the Muses' bird-cage."
. . until these table-orators get over their diarrhoea of words. For their tongue-sickness, I think, has made them forget even the Pythian oracle recorded by Chamaeleon: "Twenty days before the Dog-star rises and twenty thereafter, make Dionysus your physician within the shadows of your house."
Mnesitheus of Athens, also, says that the Pythia directed the Athenians to honour Dionysus as physician. Alcaeus, too, famous poet of Mitylene, says: "Moisten your lungs with wine; for the Dog-star is rising, the weather is oppressive, everything is athirst because of heat;" and elsewhere: "Let us drink, for the Dog-star rises." And so Eupolis says that Callias is compelled by Protagoras to drink in order that "he may carry his lungs relaxed before the Dog-star rises." But it is not merely our lungs that grow dry; possibly the heart does also. And yet Antiphanes says: "As for life, tell me, what is it? Drinking, say I. You can see this from the trees on the banks of copious torrents which are wet day and night: how they grow in size and beauty, while those which resist — as though seized with thirst and dryness — are destroyed root and branch." After they had talked in this manner about the Dog-star, Athenaeus says they had something given them to drink. Now the verb "to wet" is used also of drinking. Antiphanes: "They that eat rich food must wet it." Eubulus: "I, Sicon by name, have come wet and in my cups. — B. Have you been drinking? — S. Drunk I have, not wisely but too well, by the Zeus of Mende."

§ 1.42  The verb "fall back" is properly used of the heart in the meaning "be discouraged," "be faint-hearted." Thus in Thucydides, Book I: "When they are defeated they are the last to lose heart." But Cratinus uses the word of rowers: "Make a splash, and lie back to it!" Xenophon, also in the Oiconomicus: "Why is it that rowers give no trouble to one another? Is it not because they are seated in a regular place, bend forward regularly, and lie back regularly?" But the verb "be laid up" we use of dedicating a statue. Hence those who used it of recumbent objects were ridiculed. So Diphilus, "For a while I lay up there." To him his companion, offended at the word, says "Stay up there!" Philippides makes a character say: "and at dinner always lying back beside him." He then adds: "was he entertaining statues?" Both "lie down" and "recline" are used, as in the Symposium of Xenophon and of Plato. Alexis: "What a calamity it is to lie down before dinner. For sleep can never overtake one then, of course, nor can we understand a word a body says. Our senses are too close to the table." The word "lie back" is to be found, though rarely, in this sense also. A satyr in Sophocles uses the word when burning with passion for Heracles: "Would I might leap right on his neck as he lies back there." And Aristotle, in the Customs of the Tyrrhenians: "The Tyrrhenians dine in company with their women, lying back under the same robe." Theopompus: "After that we began to drink, lying down very comfortably at a dinner with three couches, howling at one another the lays of Telamon." Philonides: "I've been lying down, as you can see, a very long time." Euripides in the Cyclops: "He fell and lay back, breathing a heavy air from his throat." Alexis: "After that I bade her throw herself down and lie back beside me."

§ 1.43  The word meaning "to eat," "partake of," is used of taking a taste. For example, Phoenix says to Achilles: "I refused to taste food with others in the halls." And in another place: "when they had tasted the entrails." For since the entrails are not many, a large crowd can take only a taste. And Priam, also, says to Achilles: "Now, at last, I have tasted food." For it was proper that the man who had but that moment met with misfortune should take only a taste; his grief would not allow him to sate himself. Hence anyone who had not tasted food at all "lay fasting, tasting no food." Of those who satisfy hunger entirely Homer never uses this word "partake," but in what plainly denotes complete satisfaction he says "when they had delighted them with food" or "had banished desire for eating." But later writers use "partake of" even when they refer to fullness. Callimachus: "I should rather sate myself with the story." Eratosthenes: "The meat which they had taken in the chase they roasted on the ashes and ate up."

§ 1.44  "Like a piece of wood glued to another," is a phrase used by the Theban lyric poet. [24b] Seleucus says that the phrase daita thaleian ("goodly feast") in Homer is really, by a change of letters, diaitan ("mode of living"); to derive it from daisasthai ("divide") is too forced. Carystius the Pergamene records that the women of Corcyra to this very day sing as they play ball. In Homer, too, women as well as men play ball, and men threw the discus and the javelin in a kind of rhythmic form: "They delighted themselves with the cast of discus and spear." For the element of delight alleviates the difficulty of the throw. The young men also go out to hunt and catch every kind of quarry in order to train themselves for the perils of war, and as a result they were always stronger and healthier, as when "they array themselves as a tower of strength and stand against him with their javelins." They were also acquainted with bathing, as a refreshment after toil, in various forms; they relaxed their weariness in the sea, which is especially good for the nerves; they loosened the tension of the muscles by tub-baths, then anointed themselves with oil so that, when the water dried, their bodies might not become stiff. For example, the men who returned from the reconnaissance "washed away in the sea the thick sweat from their shins and neck and thighs," and having in this way refreshed themselves, they went "to the polished tubs and bathed, and smearing themselves with olive oil they sat down to their meal." There is another method also of relieving fatigue by fomentations on the head: "She mixed it to a pleasant warmth over my head and shoulders." For tub-baths, by reason of the water entirely enveloping the pores (as when one puts a colander into water), prevent the excretion of sweat. It cannot get through at all, unless one lifts the colander and allows the pores a relief and vent outward. So Aristotle explains in his Physical Problems, when he inquires why persons in sweat do not perspire after they enter warm or cold water, nor again until they emerge from the bath.

§ 1.45  The heroes had vegetables also served to them at meals. That they are acquainted with the growing of vegetables is clear from the words "beside the farthest line of trimly planted garden-beds." Moreover, they ate onions, too, though they are full of unhealthy juices: "thereto an onion, as relish to the drink." Homer also portrays them as devoted to the culture of fruit trees: "For pear on pear waxes old, fig on fig." Hence he bestows the epithet "beautiful" on fruit-bearing trees: "Beautiful trees grow there — pears, pomegranates, and apples." But trees which are adapted for timber he calls "tall," thus distinguishing their use by his epithets: "Where tall trees grew, alder and poplar and pine towering toward heaven." The use of these fruit trees was older even than the Trojan War. Tantalus, for example, is not released from his hunger for them even after he is dead, seeing that the god who metes out punishment to him dangles fruit of this kind before him (like those who lead dumb beasts by holding tempting branches before them), yet prevents him from enjoying them at the moment when he comes near to realizing his hopes. Odysseus, too, reminds Laertes of what he had given him in his boyhood. "Pear-trees thou gavest to me, thirteen," etc.

§ 1.46  That they also ate fish is disclosed by Sarpedon when he compares captivity to the catch of a great seine. Yet Eubulus, with comic wit, says jokingly: "Where has Homer ever spoken of any Achaean eating fish? And flesh too, they only roasted, for he represents nobody as boiling it. Nor did one of them ever see a single courtesan either, but for ten long years they abused each other. Bitter the campaign they saw, for after taking one city they came away with wider posteriors (εὐρυπρωκτότεροι πολύ) than had the city which they captured." Nor did the heroes allow the air to be free to the birds, for they set springes and nets to catch thrushes and doves. They also trained for bird-shooting, even hanging a dove by a fish-line from the mast of a ship and shooting at it from a distance, as is shown in the Funeral Games. But the poet is silent about the eating of vegetables, fish, and birds because that is a mark of greed, and also because it would be unseemly for the heroes to spend time in preparing them for the battle, since he judges it beneath the level of heroic and godlike deeds. But that they did use boiled flesh he makes clear when he says: "Even as a cauldron boileth . . . melting the lard of some fatted hog." Then, too, the ox-foot which was hurled at Odysseus is a proof of the boiling, for nobody ever roasts the foot of an ox. Again, the line, "he took and placed beside them platters of all sorts of meat" shows not merely the variety of meats, such as fowl, pork, kid, and beef, but also that their preparation was varied, not uniform, but attended with ingenious skill. Thus emerged the menus of Sicily and the Sybarites, and presently also the Chian. For we have as much testimony about the Chians, in the matter of fancy cooking, as about the others just mentioned. Timocles says: "The Chians have been by far the best in inventing dainty dishes." In Homer not merely the young men, but old men like Phoenix and Nestor, consort with women. To Menelaus alone no woman is joined, because he had organized the expedition to recover his lawful wife, who had been carried away.

§ 1.47  "Old wine, but the flowers of new songs" Pindar extols. And Eubulus says: "Strange that old wine should always be in favour among gay ladies, but not an old man, rather the young one." Alexis, too, says exactly the same thing, except that he says "high favour" instead of "always." As a matter of fact old wine is better not only in taste but also for the health. For, first, it aids the digestion of food better; secondly, it is composed of finer particles and is easily assimilated; thirdly, it increases bodily strength; fourthly, it makes the blood red and gives it a comfortable flow; lastly, it induces undisturbed sleep. Homer praises that wine which allows considerable admixture of water, like Maron's, and old wine allows more mixing because it becomes more heating with age. Some even assert that the flight of Dionysus into the sea is a hint that the making of wine had long been known. For wine is sweet when sea water is poured into it. When Homer commends dark wine he often calls it fiery. For it is very potent and has the most lasting effect on the system of the drinker. Theopompus says that dark wine originated among the Chians, and that they were the first to learn how to plant and tend vines from Oinopion, son of Dionysus, who also was the founder of that island-state; and they transmitted it to other peoples. But white wine is weak and thin, while yellow wine digests more easily, having a drying quality.

§ 1.48  Concerning Italian wines Galen, who is among the company of our learned author, says: "Falernian is sufficiently aged for drinking after ten years, and good from fifteen to twenty years; any that surpasses this limit induces headache and attacks the nervous system. There are two sorts, the dry and the sweetish. The latter attains this quality whenever south winds blow as the vintage season draws near, causing it also to become darker. Wine that is not made under these conditions is dry and of a yellow colour. Of the Alban wine there are also two sorts, one rather sweet, the other acid; both are at their best after fifteen years. The Sorrentine begins to be good after twenty-five years; since it lacks oil and is very rough, it takes a long time to ripen; even when it is ripe, it is barely wholesome except for those who use it continually. The wine of Rhegium, which contains more oil than that of Sorrentum, is fit to use after fifteen years. The Privernian also can be used then, being thinner than that of Rhegium and not at all likely to go to the head. Similar to this is the Formian, but it quickly matures and is more oily than the other. The Trifolian matures more slowly, and is more earthy than the Sorrentine. The Statan is one of the best kinds, resembling the Falernian, but lighter, and innocuous. The Tiburtine is thin, easily evaporates, and matures in ten years; but it is better when aged. Labican is sweet and oily to the taste, ranking midway between Falernian and Alban; it may be drunk at the earliest after ten years. The Gauran is both rare and excellent, besides being vigorous and rich, containing more oil than the Praenestine or Tiburtine. Marsic is very dry and wholesome. In the neighbourhood of Cyme, in Campania, grows the so-called Ulban, which is light and ready to use after five years. The Anconitan is good, oily . . . The Buxentine is like the acid variety of Alban, but its effect is wholesome. The Velitern is sweet to the taste and wholesome, but has the peculiar quality of seeming to be mixed; it gives the impression of having another kind mixed with it. The Calenian is light and more healthful than Falernian. The Caecuban is also a generous wine, but overpowering and strong; it matures only after many years. The Fundan is strong, heavy-bodied, and apt to attack head and smooth; hence it is not often drunk at symposia. The Sabine is lighter than all of these, ready to drink after from seven to fifteen years. The Signine is good in the sixth year, but much better when aged. The Nomentan matures quickly and is drinkable after the fifth year; it is neither too sweet nor too thin. The Spoletine wine . . . is sweet to the taste and of a golden colour. The Aequan is in many respects like the Sorrentine. The Barine is very dry and constantly improves. The Caucine is likewise a generous wine and similar to Falernian. The Venefran is wholesome and light. The Trebellic of Naples is temperate in its effect, wholesome and tasty. The Erbulan is at first dark, but becomes white after a few years; it is very light and delicate. The wine of Marseilles is good; but it is uncommon, rich, and full-bodied. The wine of Tarentum, and in fact all the wines of that latitude, are soft, having no violent effect and no strength; they are sweet and wholesome. The Mamertine, to be sure, grows outside of Italy; in Sicily, where it grows, it is called Iotaline. But it is sweet, light, and vigorous." Among the Indians a divinity is worshipped — so Chares of Mitylene says — whose name is Soroadeios; it is interpreted in Greek to means wine-maker.

§ 1.49  The witty Antiphanes catalogues somewhere the special products of each city in this wise: "From Elis comes the cook; from Argos the cauldron, from Phlious wine, from Corinth bedspreads; fish from Sikyon, flute-girls from Aegion, cheese from Sicily . . . perfumes from Athens, eels from Boeotia." And Hermippus recounts them thus: "Tell me now, ye Muses that dwell in Olympian mansions, all the blessings (since the time when Dionysus voyaged over the wine-coloured sea) which he hath brought hither to men in his black ship. From Cyrene silphium-stalks and ox-hides, from the Hellespont mackerel and all kinds of salt-dried fish, from Thessaly, again, the pudding and ribs of beef; from Sitalces, an itch to plague the Spartans, from Perdiccas, cargoes of lies in many ships. The Syracusans supply hogs and cheese, and the Corcyraeans — may Poseidon destroy them in their hollow ships, because they are of divided loyalty. All these things, then, come from these places. But from Egypt we get rigged sails and papyrus; from Syria, again, frankincense; while fair Crete sends cypress for the gods. Libya supplies ivory in plenty for trade, Rhodes, raisins and dried figs, which bring pleasant dreams. From Euboea the god brings pears and "fat apples," from Phrygia slaves, from Arcadia hired soldiers. Pagasae furnishes slaves, and branded rascals at that. The acorns of Zeus and glossy almonds come from Paphlagonia; they are "the ornaments of a feast." Phoenicia, in its turn, sends the fruit of the plain and the finest wheat flour. Carthage supplies carpets and cushions of many colours."

§ 1.50  Pindar, in the Pythian ode addressed to Hieron, says: "From Taygetus he brings the Laconian hound for the chase, a creature most keen for coursing. The goats of Scyros excel all others for milking. Arms from Argos, the chariot from Thebes; but in Sicily, land of fair fruits, look for the cunningly wrought car." But Critias puts it thus: "The cottabos is the chief product of Sicily; we set it up as a mark to shoot at with drops of wine. Next comes the Sicilian cart, the best in lavish beauty. . . . The throne is Thessalian, a most comfortable seat for the limbs. But the glory of the couch whereon we sleep belongs to Miletus and to Chios, Oinopion's city of the sea. The Etruscan cup of beaten gold is the best, as well as all bronze that adorns the house, whatever its use. The Phoenicians invented letters, preservers of words. Thebes was the first to join together the chariot-box, and the Carians, stewards of the sea, the cargo-bearing clippers; and she that raised her glorious trophy at Marathon invented the potter's wheel and the child of clay and the oven, noblest pottery, useful in house-keeping." And in fact Attic pottery is held in high esteem. But Eubulus speaks of "Cnidian jars, Sicilian pans, Megarian casks." And Antiphanes says: "Cyprian mustard and juice of convolvulus, Milesian cress and Samothrace onion, kale from Carthage, silphium and thyme from Hymettus, and marjoram from Tenedos."

§ 1.51  The Persian king used to drink only Chalybonian wine, which Poseidonius says is also grown at Damascus, in Syria, since the Persians had introduced the culture of the vine there. In Issa, moreover, an island in the Adriatic, Agatharchides says a wine grows which is found by test to be better than all others. Chian and Thasian are mentioned by Epilycus: "Chian and Thasian strained." And Antidotus: "Fill a cup of Thasian: for no matter what care gnaws at my heart, once I get a drink of that, my heart is sound again. Asclepius has drenched me . . ." "Wine of Lesbos," exclaims Clearchus, "which Maron must have made himself, I think." "There's not another wine pleasanter to drink than a draught of Lesbian," says Alexis, [47a] and continues: "In Thasian and Lesbian wine he swills for the rest of the day, and munches sweets." The same author says:47b "Dionysos was kind, for he made Lesbian free of duty to all who import that wine here. But if anybody is caught sending so much as a thimbleful to another city, his goods are confiscated." Ephippus says: "I like the Pramnian wine of Lesbos. . . . Many the drops of Lesbian that are gulped down eagerly." Antiphanes: "There is at hand a good relish, very inviting, and Thasian wine and ointment and fillets. For Love dwells where plenty is, but among those who are hard up Aphrodite will not stay." Eubulus: "Take some Thasian or Chian, or old Lesbian distilling nectar." He also mentions "Psithian" wine: "He gave me a taste of Psithian, sweet and without water; when I was thirsty he took and smote me on the chest with vinegar." And Anaxandrides: "a pitcher of Psithian mixed."

§ 1.52  The second edition of Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae ("Women celebrating the Thesmophoria") is given the title of "Women who had celebrated the Thesmophoria" by Demetrius of Troezen. In this play the master of comedy mentions Peparethian wine: "I'll not permit the drinking of Pramnian wine, or Chian, or Thasian, or Peparethian, or any other which will rouse your passion." Eubulus: "Leucadian wine is on hand, also some honey liqueur, just drinkable." From Archestratus, writer on banquets: "After that, when ye have taken full measure from the bowl dedicated to Zeus the Saviour, ye must drink an old wine, with hoary head indeed, whose moist locks are crowned with a white bouquet, grown in Lesbos, which the sea waves encircle. I praise, too, the Bybline wine from the sacred Punic land; yet do I not count it equal with the other. For if you take but a single taste of it, having no acquaintance with it before, you will think it at first more fragrant than Lesbian; for fragrance it retains for a very long time. But to the taste it is far inferior, while Lesbian will seem to you to possess the glory of ambrosia rather than wine. But if any empty-headed swaggering babblers mock me and say that Punic wine is the nicest of all, I pay no attention to them. . . . The Thasian, to be sure, is also a generous wine to the taste, providing it be old with the fair seasons of many years. I could tell, too, and explain the merits, of the shoots pendant with clusters that grown in other districts; I forget not their names. But they are simply nothing when compared with Lesbian, although some find pleasure in commending what grows in their own country."

§ 1.53  Wine of the date-palm is mentioned by Ephippus: "Walnuts, pomegranates, dates and other sweets, and little jars of date wine." And again: "A cask of date wine was being tapped."
Xenophon also mentions it in the Anabasis. Cratinus mentions Mendaean: "As it is, if he but catch a glimpse of Mendaean wine in its bloom, he tags on and follows it and says, 'Oh, how soft and fair! Will it carry three?'" Hermippus, I believe, makes Dionysus mention several varieties: "Because of Mendaean the gods actually wet their soft beds. As for Magnesia's sweet bounty, and Thasian, over which floats the smell of apples, I judge it far the best of all wines excepting Chian, irreproachable and healthful. But there is a wine which they call "the mellow," and out of the mouth of the opening jars of it there comes the smell of violets, the smell of roses, the smell of hyacinth. A sacred odour pervades the high-roofed dwelling, ambrosia and nectar in one. That is nectar; and of that my friends shall drink in the bountiful feast; but my enemies shall have Peparethan." Phaenias of Eresus says that the Mendaeans sprinkle the grapes on the vines with an aperient, so that the wine becomes a laxative.

§ 1.54  Themistocles received as a present from the Persian king the city of Lampsacus to supply his wine, Magnesia his bread, Myus his victuals, Percote and Palaescepsis his bedding and clothing. And he bade him, like Demaratus, wear Persian clothes, giving him Gambreium for his raiment in addition to the towns he already had, with the stipulation that he should never again wear Greek clothes. So also Cyrus the Great bestowed upon his friend Pytharchus of Cyzicus seven cities, according to the Babylonian Agathocles — Pedasus, Olympium, Acamantium, Tium, Sceptra, Artypsus, and Tortyre. "But he," says Agathocles, "proceeded to indulge in insolence and folly, and gathering an army he undertook to rule as tyrant over his country. And the Cyzicenes came out against him and offered resistance, rushing in successive ranks to meet the danger." Among the people of Lampsacus, Priapus, who is the same as Dionysus, is held in honour and has the by-name Dionysus as well as Thriambus and Dithyrambus. The Mitylenaeans call the sweet wine of their country prodromus; others say protropus.

§ 1.55  The Icarian wine is also esteemed, as Amphis says: "In Thurii oil, in Gela lentils, wine from Icaros, figs from Cimolos." In the island of Icaros, says Eparchides, is grown the Pramnian, a variety of wine. It is neither sweet nor rich, but dry, hard, and of extraordinary strength; it is the kind which Aristophanes says the Athenians did not like, when, speaking of the Athenian populace, he says that they liked not the hard, stiff poets any more than they liked Pramnian wines, which contract the eyebrows as well as the bowels; rather they want wine with delicate bouquet and nectar-distilling ripeness. In Icaros, says Semus, is a rock called Pramnian, and beside it a tall mountain from which comes this Pramnian wine, called by some "medicated." The name of Icaros in earlier days was Ichthyoessa because of the abundance of fish there, just as the Echinades got their name from sea-urchins, the Sepian promontory from the cuttlefish in the surrounding waters, the Lagussae from the hares thereon, and other islands, Phycussae and Lopadussae, from similar causes. Now the vine which bears the Pramnian of Icaros, Eparchides continues, is called by foreigners "sacred," but by the natives of Oinoe "Dionysias." Oinoe is a city on the island. But Didymus declares that Pramnian gets its name from a vine called Pramnia; others say that it is a special term for all dark wine, while some assert that it may be applied in general to all wine of good keeping qualities, as if the word were paramonion ("enduring"); still others explain it as "assuaging the spirit" (praynonta), since drinkers of it are mild-tempered.

§ 1.56  Amphis also commends the wine from the city of Acanthus: "A. Where are you from? Tell me. — B. From Acanthus. — A. Then in Heaven's name, how is it that you are so harsh, though fellow townsman of the noblest wine? You carry the very name of your town in your outward address, but have not the inward qualities of your countrymen." Alexis mentions Corinthian wine as hard: "There was imported wine on hand; for the Corinthian stuff is torture." He also mentions Euboean: "After drinking a lot of Euboean wine." Archilochus compares Naxian to nectar, and says, if I remember: "On my spear depends my kneaded barley-cake, on my spear, Ismarian wine; and I drink, leaning on my spear." Strattis praises the wine of Sciathos: "The dark Sciathian, mixed half-and-half, gurgles forth and invites the wayfarer to drink." But Achaeus praises the Bibline: "He offered hospitality with a cup of Bibline mead." It was called thus from a region so named. Philyllius says: "I will furnish Lesbian, mellow Chian, Thasian, Bibline, and Mendaean, and nobody will have a headache." Epicharmus says that its name is derived from certain mountains called Bibline. But Armenidas says the Biblian country is a part of Thrace, with the special names of Antisare and Oisyme. With good reason, too, Thrace was praised for its fine wines, and in general all the regions near it: "And ships from Lemnos, laden with wine, lay in port."
Hippys of Rhegium says that the wine called "tangled" was known as Biblian, and that Pollis of Argos, who became tyrant of Syracuse, introduced it from Italy. The sweet wine, therefore, which is called Pollian among the Sicilian Greeks, must be this Bibline. An oracle: (In the oracle, Athenaeus tells us, the god spoke of his own accord.) "Drink wine full of lees, for thou dwellest not in Anthedon, nor in holy Hypera, where thou wast wont to quaff wine that was clarified." Now among the Troezenians, as Aristotle says in his work on their Constitution, there was a vine called Anthedonias and Hypereias, from a certain Anthus and Hyperus; just as there is an Althephias from one Althephius, a descendant of Alpheius.

§ 1.57  Alcman somewhere speaks of "wine that knows no heat, redolent of its bouquet," coming from the Five Hills, a place about a mile distant from Sparta; also one from Denthiades, a fortress, another from Oinoun, and others from Onogli and Stathmi. These are farms near Pitane, in Laconia. So he says, "wine from Oinoun, or Denthis, or Carystus, or Onogli, or Stathmi." As for the Carystian, he means a place near Arcadia. By "no heat" he meant wine which has not been boiled; for they used to drink mulled wine. Polybius declares that an excellent wine is grown in Capua, called "anadendrite," which has no competitor. Alciphron of Maeander says there is a mountain village near Ephesus, formerly called Leto's village, but now Latoreia from an Amazon of that name; in this Pramnian wine was produced. Timachidas of Rhodes, moreover, mentions a wine in Rhodes which he calls "doctored," and says it resembles must. "Candied" is the name given to a wine which has been boiled. Polyzelus calls a certain wine "genuine home-brew," and the comic poet Plato has a name "smoky" for an excellent wine which is made in Beneventum, a town in Italy. "Amphias" is the name given to a poor wine by Sosicrates. But the ancients also drank a liqueur made of spices, called trimma ("pounded"). Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says that Heraea, in Arcadia, produces a wine the drinking of which causes insanity among males, but pregnancy in females. In the region of Cerynia, in Achaea, he further says that there is a kind of vine the wine from which causes pregnant women to miscarry, and if they but eat of the grapes, he declares, they miscarry. Troezenian wine, he says, makes drinkers of it childless. In Thasos, he says, the inhabitants make one wine that produces sleep, another that causes insomnia.

§ 1.58  Concerning the preparation of perfumed wine, Phaenias of Eresus says: "To fifty pitchers of must is added one of sea water, producing anthosmias, or 'bouquet' "; and again: "Anthosmias is made stronger with the fruit of new vines rather than of old." Continuing he says: "They trod out the unripe grapes and stored the liquor, which became anthosmias."
Theophrastus says that in Thasos the wine served in the town hall has a wonderful flavour, because it is specially seasoned. "For they place in the wine-jar dough made from spelt, first mixing it with honey, so that the wine gets its fragrance from itself, but its sweetness from the dough." And further on he says: "If you mix hard and fragrant wine with smooth and odourless wine, as, for instance, Heracleote and Erythraean, the one supplies smoothness, the other fragrance."
Perfumed wine finds mention in Poseidippus: "A strange, thirsty wine is this precious perfumed stuff." And "Hermes" is a variety of beverage mentioned in Strattis. Chaereas says that a wine grows in Babylon which is known as nectar. "So this, after all, was a true saying, that wine must have not only its portion of water, but also a bit of a jest." — "Naught that Dionysos gives should be rejected, not even so much as a grape seed," says the poet of Ceos.

§ 1.59  Among wines one kind is white, another yellow, another dark. As for the white, it is by nature thinnest, diuretic, and heating; while it is a digestive, it makes the head hot; for this wine is heady. Dark wine, if not inclined to be sweet, is very nutritious, also astringent. But the sweet varieties, both of white and yellow wines, are the most nutritious. For sweet wine smooths the tract through which it passes, and by thickening the humours more, tends to incommode the head less. In fact, the quality of sweet wine causes it to remain in the hypochondriac regions and induces salivation, as Diocles and Praxagoras record. And Mnesitheus of Athens says: "While dark wine is most favourable to bodily growth, white wine is thinnest and most diuretic; yellow wine is dry, and better adapted to digesting foods." Wines which are more carefully treated with sea water do not cause headache; they loosen the bowels, excite the stomach, cause inflations, and assist digestion. Examples are the Myndian and the Halicarnassian. The Cynic Menippus, at any rate, calls Myndus "salt-water drinker." The wine of Cos also is very highly treated with sea water. The Rhodian, also, has, to be sure, a smaller share of the sea, but most of it is useless. The island wine is naturally well adapted for drinking-bouts and not unsuitable for daily use. Cnidian wine produces blood, is nourishing, and causes easy relaxing of the bowels; but when drunk too copiously it weakens the stomach. The Lesbian has less astringency and is more diuretic. The pleasantest is the Chian, especially the variety known as Ariusian. There are three kinds of it; one dry, another rather sweet, the third, a mean between these two in taste, and called "self-tempered." Now the dry has a good taste, is nourishing and more diuretic; the sweet is nourishing, satisfying, and laxative; the "self-tempered" is mid-way between them in useful effects. Speaking generally, Chian wine promotes digestion, is nourishing, produces good blood, is very mild, and is satisfying in its rich quality. But the pleasantest wines are the Alban of Italy and the Falernian. But when one of these has age and has been kept a long time it acts like a drug and soon causes stupor. The so-called Adriatic has a pleasant odour, is easily assimilated, and altogether innocuous. But they should be made rather early in the season and set aside in an open space so that the richness peculiar to their nature may evaporate. A very pleasant wine, when old, is the Corcyraean. But the Zacynthian and Leucadian, on account of the admixture of gypsum, are injurious to the brain. The Cilician wine called "Abates" is merely a laxative. Hard waters, like those from springs and rains, suit the Coan, Myndian, Halicarnassian, and all other wines which have been abundantly treated with sea water, provided the water be thoroughly filtered, and have stood for some time. These wines, therefore, may be advantageously used at Athens and Sikyon, where the water is hard. But for wines not treated with sea water, or those which are too astringent, or again for Chian and Lesbian, only the purest waters are suitable. —

§ 1.60  "O tongue, so long silent, how shalt thou dare relate this deed? Verily there is naught so stern as necessity, for it shall make thee reveal thy masters' secret," says Sophocles. — "I shall be my own Iolaus and Heracles as well." — The Mareotan wine — also called Alexandreotic — gets its names from Lake Mareia in Alexandria and the city so named near it. In earlier times the town was important, but today it has dwindled to a village. It took its name from Maron, one of the members of Dionysus's conquering train. The vine is abundant in this region, and its grapes are very good to eat. The wine made from them is excellent; it is white and pleasant, fragrant, easily assimilated, thin, does not go to the head and is diuretic. Even better than this is the Taeniotic ("strip"-) wine, so-called. There is a long strip of land in those parts, and the wines made there are somewhat pale, disclosing an oily quality in them which is dissolved by the gradual mixture of water, like the honey of Attica when water is added. This Taeniotic wine, beside being pleasant, has also an aromatic quality, and is mildly astringent. The vine is as abundant in the Nile valley as its waters are copious, and the peculiar differences of the wines are many, varying with colour and taste. Surpassing all others is the wine of Antylla, a city not far from Alexandria, the revenues from which were assigned by the early kings of Egypt and by the Persians to their wives for pin-money. The wine of the Thebaid, and especially the wine from the city of the Copts, is so thin and assimilable, so easily digested, that it may be given even to fever patients without injury. — "You praise yourself, woman, as Astydamas did." Astydamas was a tragic poet. —

§ 1.61  Theopompus of Chios relates that the vine was discovered in Olympia, on the banks of the Alpheius; and that there is a district in Elis a mile away, in which, at the festival of Dionysus, the inhabitants shut up and seal three empty cauldrons in the presence of visitors; later, they open the cauldrons and find them full of wine. But Hellanicus maintains that the vine was discovered first in Plinthine, a city of Egypt. Hence Dio the Academic philosopher says that the Egyptians became fond of wine and bibulous; and so a way was found among them to help those who could not afford wine, namely, to drink that made from barley; they who took it were so elated that they sang, danced, and acted in every way like persons filled with wine. Now Aristotle declares that men who have been intoxicated with wine fall down face foremost, whereas they who have drunk barley beer lie outstretched on their backs; for wine makes one top-heavy, but beer stupefies.

§ 1.62  That the Egyptians are wine-bibbers is indicated also by the custom, found only among them, of putting boiled cabbage first on their bill of fare at banquets, and it is so served to this day. Many even add cabbage-seed to all remedies concocted against drunkenness. Wherever cabbages grow in a vineyard the wine produced is darker. Hence the Sybarites also, according to Timaeus, used to eat cabbages before drinking. Alexis: "Yesterday you took a drop, and so today you've got a headache. Take a nap, that will stop it. Then have some boiled cabbage brought to you." And Eubulus somewhere says: "Woman, you must think I am a cabbage, for you try to shift all your headache upon me, so I believe." That the ancients called the cabbage rhaphanos is attested by Apollodorus of Carystus: "If they think that our calling it a rhaphanos, while you foreigners call it a krambe, makes any difference to us women!" Anaxandrides: 'If you will but take a bath and eat a lot of cabbage (rhaphanos), you will disperse your sadness as well as the cloud which is now upon your brow." Nicochares: "Tomorrow we'll make a decoction of acorns instead of cabbages (rhaphanoi) to drive away our headache." Amphis: "There's no cure for being drunk, it would seem, so potent as the blow of sudden grief. It drives drunkenness away so forcibly that cabbages (rhaphanis) seem ridiculous by comparison." On the subject of this effect caused by the cabbage, Theophrastus also has written; he alleges that even the growing vine loathes the smell of cabbage.

§ 2.1   BOOK II. (epitome)
[35a] "Most of the day he gives over as a largess to sleep." But the conversations which you have reported are of such variety of subject that they allowed me no leisure for sleep. Not missing the mark. — Nicander of Colophon says that the word for wine (oinos) is derived from Oineus: "Oineus squeezed it in hollow cups and called it oinos." So also Melanippides of Melos: "Wine, my master, named after Oineus." Hecataeus of Miletus declares that the vine was discovered in Aitolia, and he adds: "Orestheus, son of Deucalion, went to Aitolia to assume the kingship, and a bitch of his gave birth to a stalk. He ordered that it be buried, and from it sprang a vine with many clusters. For this reason he called his own son Phytius ("Vine-grower"). When his son Oineus was born, he was named after the vines." For the ancient Greeks, Athenaeus explains, called grape-vines oinai. "And the son of Oineus was Aetolus." But Plato, explaining the etymology in the Cratylus, says that oinos is for oionous, because wine fills our brain with false impressions. Or perhaps it is so called from onesis ("benefit"), since Homer alludes to the derivation of the word somewhat in this way: "Then shalt thou thyself be benefited if thou wilt but drink." In fact he calls all victuals oneiata ("benefits") because they help us.

§ 2.2  "In wine, Menelaus, the gods devised the best remedy for mortal men to dissipate care." The writer of the Cypria, whoever he may be, is authority for this. And Diphilus, the comic poet, says: "O Dionysus, dearest and wisest in the eyes of all men of sense, how kind art thou! Thou alone makest the humble to feel proud, and persuadest the scowler to laugh, the weak to be brave, the cowardly to be bold." Philoxenus of Cythera speaks of "fair-flowing wine, opening all lips." And Chaeremon, the tragic poet, says that wine brings to the user "mirth and solemn wisdom, folly and good counsel." Ion of Chios says: "Child untamed, with face of bull, young and not young, sweet lure to loud-thundering passions, wine that lifts the spirit, ruler of men." - [36a] "Mnesitheus said that the gods had revealed wine to mortals, to be the greatest blessing for those who use it aright, but for those who use it without measure, the reverse. For it gives food to them that take it, and strength in mind and body. In medicine it is most beneficial; it can be mixed with liquid drugs and it brings aid to the wounded. In daily intercourse, to those who mix and drink it moderately, it gives good cheer; but if you overstep the bounds, it brings violence. Mix it half and half, and you get madness; unmixed, bodily collapse. Wherefore Dionysus is everywhere called physician." The Delphic priestess, too, has directed certain persons to call Dionysus "health-giver."

§ 2.3  Eubulus makes Dionysus say: "Three bowls only do I mix for the temperate — one to health, which they empty first, the second to love and pleasure, the third to sleep. When this is drunk up wise guests go home. The fourth bowl is ours no longer, but belongs to violence; the fifth to uproar, the sixth to drunken revel, the seventh to black eyes. The eighth is the policeman's, the ninth belongs to biliousness, and the tenth to madness and hurling the furniture. Too much wine, poured into one little vessel, easily knocks the legs from under the drinkers." And Epicharmus says:
"A. After the sacrifice, a feast . . . after the feast, drinking. —
B. Fine, in my humble opinion! —
"A. Yes, but after drinking comes mockery, after mockery filthy insult, after insult a law-suit, after the law-suit a verdict, after the verdict shackles, the stocks, and a fine."
Panyasis, the epic poet, ascribes the first toast to the Graces, the Seasons, and Dionysus, the second to Aphrodite and Dionysus again, the third, however, to Violence and Ruin. He says:
"The first portion fell to the lot of the Graces and the merry Seasons, and to noisy Dionysus, the very gods who inspired the round. For the next following the Cyprus-born goddess and Dionysus drew the lot. Here men get the greatest good from drinking wine. If a man, content with that, goes back home from the still pleasant feast, he can never meet with any harm. But if he persist to the full measure of the third round and drink to excess, there rises the bitter doom of Violence and Ruin, with evils to men in their train. So then, good sir (for thou hast a proper measure of sweet drink), go to thy wedded wife and let thy companions rest. For I fear, when that third sweet round is quaffed, that Violence may excite wrath in thy heart and crown a goodly entertainment with an evil end. Nay, obey, and cease from too much drinking."
And continuing the subject of wine immoderately used, Panyasis says:
"After that the doom of Ruin and overcome follows close upon the victim."
According to Euripides, "the revel brings blows, insult, and outrage," whence some declare that Dionysus and Hybris ("Violence") were born at the same time.

§ 2.4  Alexis says somewhere:
"Man is, in a way, much like wine in his nature; young wine, like the young man, is bound to boil up at first and do violence; but when it has lost its ferment it grows hard, and after passing the crisis of all these conditions I speak of, and having had this top froth skimmed from the surface, it is at last fit to use; it settles down again and always thereafter is pleasant to all."
And according to the poet of Cyrene,
"There is wine, which has the strength of fire when it enters into men; it swells them as the north or south wind swells the Libyan sea, and brings to light the hidden things in the deep; so wine drives the wits from men in complete upheaval."
But in another passage Alexis says just the opposite:
"Man is not at all like wine in his nature; for when he has grown old he loses his flavour, whereas the oldest wine is what we strive to get. The one bites, the other makes us merry."
And Panyasis says: [37a]
"Wine is as great a boon to earthly creatures as fire. It is loyal, a defender from evil, a companion to solace every pain. Yea, wine is the desired portion of the feast and of merry-making, of the tripping dance and of yearning love. Therefore, thou shouldst receive and drink it at the feast with glad heart, and when satisfied with food thou shouldst not sit still like a child, filled to over-flowing, oblivious of the mirth."
And again:
"But wine is the best gift of gods to men, sparkling wine; every song, every dance, every passionate love, goes with wine. It drives all sorrows from men's hearts when drunk in due measure, but when taken immoderately it is a bane."

§ 2.5  Timaeus of Tauromenium says that in Agrigentum there is a house which is called the "trireme" from the following circumstance. A party of young fellows were drinking in it, and became so wild when overheated by the liquor that they imagined that they were sailing in a trireme, and that they were in a bad storm on the ocean. Finally they completely lost their sense, and tossed all the furniture and bedding out of the house as though upon the waters, convinced that the pilot directed them to lighten the ship because of the raging storm. Well, a great crowd gathered and began to carry off the jetsam, but even then the youngsters did not cease from their mad actions. The next day the military authorities appeared at the house and made complaint against the young men when they were still half-seas over. To the questions of the magistrates they answered that they had been much put to it by a storm and had been compelled to throw into the sea the superfluous cargo. When authorities expressed surprise at their insanity, one of the young men, though he appeared to be the eldest of the company, said to them, "Ye Tritons, I was so frightened that I threw myself into the lowest possible place in the hold and lay there." The magistrates, therefore, pardoned their delirium, but sentenced them never to drink too much, and let them go. They gratefully promised . . . "If," said he, "we ever make port after this awful tempest, we shall rear altars in our country to you, as Saviours in visible presence, side by side with the sea gods, because you appeared to us so opportunely." This is why the house was called the "trireme."

§ 2.6  Philochorus says that drinkers not only reveal what they are, but also disclose the secrets of everybody else in their outspokenness. Hence the saying, "wine is truth also," and "wine revealeth the heart of man." Hence also the tripod as prize of victory in the festival of Dionysus. For of those who speak the truth we say that they "speak from the tripod," and it must be understood that the mixing-bowl is Dionysus's tripod. For in ancient times there were two sorts of tripods, both of which came to be termed cauldrons. The one called "bath-pourer" was also made to stand over a fire. Thus Aeschylus: "This was contained in the household cauldron, tripod-mounted, which ever keeps its station above the fire." [38a] The other is the so-called krater ("mixing-bowl"). Homer: "seven tripods, unspoiled by fire." In these they used to mix their wine, and this is "the veritable tripod of truth." Wherefore the tripod is proper to Apollo because of its prophetic truth, while to Dionysus it is proper because of the truth of wine. Now Semos of Delos says: "Bronze tripod; not the Pythian, but rather what is now termed cauldron. Of these some were not intended for fire, and in them they mixed wine; others were pitchers for the bath, in which they heated water, and they were made to stand over a fire. Of these latter some had handles, but having three feet as a base they were called tripods." Ephippus says somewhere: "A. Too much wine makes you babble too much. — B. Ay, but they say that men in their cups speak the truth." And Antiphanes: "One may hide all else, Pheidias, but not these two things — that he is drinking wine, and that he has fallen in love. Both of these betray him though his eyes and through his words, so that the more he denies, the more they make it plain."

§ 2.7  Philochorus has this: "Amphictyon, king of Athens, learned from Dionysus the art of mixing wine, and was the first to mix it. So it was that men came to stand upright, drinking wine mixed, whereas before they were bent double by the use of unmixed. Hence he founded an altar of Dionysus Orthos in the shrine of the Seasons; for these make ripe the fruit of the vine. Near it he also built an altar to the Nymphs to remind devotees of the mixing; for the Nymphs are said to be the nurses of Dionysus. He also instituted the custom of taking just a sip of unmixed wine after meat, as a proof of the power of the good gratitude, but after that they might drink mixed wine, as much as each man chose. They were also to repeat over this cup the name of Zeus Soter (savior) as a warning and reminder to drinkers that only when they drank in this fashion would they surely be safe." Plato in the second book of the Laws says that the use of wine is designed to promote health. From the condition produced by wine they liken Dionysus to a bull or a leopard, because they who have indulged too freely are prone to violence. Alcaeus: "Sometimes drawing for themselves honey-like sweetness, sometimes, again, what is sharper than caltrops." There are some drinkers who become full of rage, like a bull. Euripides: "Insolent bulls, driving rage into their horns." Some, also, become like wild beasts in their desire to fight, whence the likeness to a panther.

§ 2.8  Rightly, then, Ariston of Ceos says that the pleasantest drink is that which has its share both of sweetness and of fragrance. Wherefore, he says, certain peoples in the neighbourhood of the Lydian Olympus prepare "nectar" by mixing in the same portion wine, honey, and sweet-smelling flowers. [39a] Now I am aware that Anaxandrides declares that nectar is not a drink, but a food of the gods: "I eat nectar, chewing it well, and I drink now and then ambrosia; I am a minister to Zeus, and I can boast of gossiping when I like with Hera, or sitting beside Kypris." Alcman also says the gods "eat nectar." Sappho, too: "There stood a mixing-bowl filled with ambrosia, while Hermes grasped the pitcher to serve the gods." Homer, however, know of nectar only as a drink of the gods; and Ibycus declares in exaggerated praise that ambrosia has ninefold the sweetness of honey, when he says that honey is the ninth part of ambrosia in sweetness.

§ 2.9  "No man who is fond of drinking is base. For the twice-mothered Bromius delights not in the company of wicked men or untutored ways," says Alexis; and he adds that wine "makes all fond of talk who drink it too freely." The author of the epigram on Cratinus says: "'Wine,' I aver, 'is a mighty horse to the witty bard, but you that drink water can never produce anything good.' Thus spoke Cratinus, O Dionysus, and breathed not of one wine-skin, but reeked of every cask. Therefore his halls teemed with chaplets, and he had a brow like thine, yellow with the ivy berry." Polemon says that in Munychia honours are paid to a hero Acratopotes ("Drinker of unmixed wine"), and that among the Spartans statues of heroes named Matton ("Kneader") and Ceraon ("Mixer") have been set up by certain cooks in the public mess. In Achaea, also, Deipneus, who got his name from deipna ("dinners"), is held in honour. "From dry food no jests will grow nor impromptu verses" — nor yet, again, will conceit or boasting of spirit. Rightly, therefore, the line, "whither are gone the boasts ye uttered in Lemnos, when ye ate much flesh and drank goblets brimming with wine," is bracketed by the scholar Aristarchus in his notes, because it represents the Greeks as boasting after eating meat. For boasting, ridicule, and jests spring not from every kind of heartiness and fullness, but only from that which alters the spirit so completely that it inclines to illusion, which happens only through wine.

§ 2.10  Wherefore Bacchylides says: "A sweet compelling impulse issues from the cups and warms the heart; and hope of love fulfilled speeds through the brain when mingled with the gifts of Dionysus, sending the thoughts of men to topmost heights. Soon it breaks down even the battlements of cities, and every man dreams of being a monarch. With gold, yes, and with ivory, his house glitters; wheat-laden ships carry over the shining sea mighty wealth from Egypt. Thus does the drinker's heart leap with fancies." [40a] Sophocles, too, says that "to be full of wine is the solvent of pain," while other poets declare that "wine is the fruit of the glebe that makes the heart merry"; and the prince of poets makes Odysseus say: "If a man hath had his fill of wine and food, though he fight all day, yet is his heart brave within him," et cetera.

§ 2.11  Simonides ascribes the same origin to wine and to literature. Inspired by wine, both comedy and tragedy were invented in Icarium, a village of Attica, at the very time of the vintage (tryge). Hence comedy was at first called trygoedia. "The vine, antidote to sorrow, was given to mortals; without wine Love lives not, and every other joy of mortals dies," says Euripides in the Bacchae. And Astydamas also says: "He revealed to mortals that cure for sorrow, the vine, mother of wine." — "If a man fill himself too continually he loses thought, but if he drink moderately he becomes full of ideas," says Antiphanes. "I have drunk not to the clouding of my reason, but just so much that I can still surely distinguish the syllables with my tongue," says Alexis. Seleucus maintains that in old times it was not the custom to indulge in too much wine or in any other luxury, except in honour of the gods. Hence they named their carousals either thoinai or thaleiai or methai — the first, because they thought it their duty to take wine for the gods' sake, the second because they gathered and came together to grace the gods. This, namely, is the meaning of daita thaleian ("bountiful feast"). As for the term methe ("drunkenness") Aristotle says that the verb methyo ("get drunk") comes from the use of wine after sacrifice.

§ 2.12  "Sacrificing but meagre offerings in rites to the gods, albeit more pious than they who offer oxen," says Euripides. In this way he indicates that the word "rite" means "festival." Homer, too, has these lines: "As for me, I say that no more precious rite could be celebrated than when mirth possesseth the whole people." Further, we call by the name of "mystic rites" those festivals which are still more important and are accompanied by certain traditional mysteries, deriving the name from the large sums expended upon them. For telein means to spend generously, and those who spend much are called polyteleis, those who spend little, euteleis. Alexis says: "The prosperous should live ostentatiously, and so make plain the god's bounty. For the god who had bestowed these blessings thinks that a man should feel grateful to him for what he has done. But when men try to hide their fortune, alleging that they are but indifferently well off, the god sees that they are ungrateful and are living meanly, and at the first opportunity he seizes and wrests from them all that he has given before."

§ 2.13  All this is said by way of oenologizing, or talking about wines; gulping down, as it were, all the names of wines. He who has been accustomed from his earliest upbringing to drink water takes no pleasure in the cup. "Pleasant it is, at the feast and the bounteous banquet, for men to enjoy themselves with stories after they are satisfied with eating," says Hesiod in the epic tale of Melampus. It has not occurred to any of you to speak about waters, although from its mixture with water the wine is drawn for drinking. And yet the grandiloquent Pindar has said that "of all things water is best." [41a] The divine Homer knows that it is very nourishing, in the lines where he speaks of a grove "of poplars nurtured by water." He also praises its clearness: "Four fountains gushed with water white." Whatever flows lightly and is of unusual value he calls desirable. Thus he speaks of the Titaresius, which "flows into the Peneius," as desirable. He also mentions water fit for cleansing in a passage which Praxagoras of Cos accepts with approval . . . Homer speaks of it as "good"; "It flows past, good for cleansing even very soiled garments." Moreover, he distinguishes fresh water from "broad"; in speaking of the Hellespont, he uses the term "broad." But of fresh water he says: "We stayed our ships near a well of fresh water."

§ 2.14  He also knows the good qualities of hot water in the treatment of wounds. For he makes of this a fomentation to apply to Eurypylus when he was wounded. And yet if one had merely to check the flow of blood, cold water would have been suitable, since it hardens and contracts the flesh; but for dulling pain Homer causes Eurypylus to be bathed with hot water, since it is potent for soothing. In Homer, too, the word liaros means hot. This he makes quite clear in the passage about the sources of the Scamander: "The one," he says, "flows with hot water, and about it smoke rises up as from a blazing fire." Must not this be hot, when from it a fiery vapour and hot smoke rise into the air? But concerning the other spring he says that in summer "it flows like hail or chilling snow or ice which forms from water." And just as he is wont to say of fresh wounds that the warm blood flows round them, so, in the case of Agamemnon, he says "while yet the blood welled up warm from his wound (employing the word thermos), but, on the other hand, of the stag which flees after being shot, he says (changing the word toliaros), "while the blood is warm and his limbs are strong to move." But Athenians call what is warm metakeras ("lukewarm"), according to Eratosthenes: "diluted," he says, "and lukewarm."

§ 2.15  Regarding other waters, Homer calls those which flow from rocks "dark," meaning "unfit for use." He prefers to all others the water of springs and those which flow through fertile and rather deep soil, as Hesiod does also: "A spring perpetual and ever flowing, which has not been fouled." And Pindar says: "Ambrosial water, honeyed delight, flows from the fair spring of Tilphossa." This Tilphossa is a spring in Boeotia, from which, Aristophanes says, Teiresias drank; but not being able to bear its coldness because of his age he died. Theophrastus, in his work On Waters, says that Nile water is very fertilizing and fresh. Hence it loosens the drinker's bowels, since it contains a soda ingredient. In his work On Plants he says that in some places water occurs which promotes conception, as in Thespiae, whereas in Pyrrha it produces sterility. He also says that some fresh waters are sterile or not very favourable to conception, like that in Pheta or in Pyrrha. [42a] And once, when droughts had occurred in the Nile valley, the flow of water became poisonous and many Egyptians died. He further says that many bitter waters as well as salt water and entire rivers change their character; such is the river in Caria on the banks of which stands a shrine to Zenoposeidon. The reason is that many thunderbolts fall in that region.

§ 2.16  Other waters, again, are like solids, and have a considerable density, like the water of Troezen, for it is no sooner tasted than it becomes a mouthful. The waters near the mines of Mt. Pangaion weigh in the winter time ninety-six drachms to the half pint, while in summer they weigh forty-six. Cold weather contracts it and gives it greater density. Hence, also, water flowing in water-clocks does not correctly give the hours in winter, but makes them too long, since the flow is slower on account of its density. He asserts the same even of Egypt, where the climate is milder. But salty water is more earthy and requires longer boiling than sea water, as sea water is naturally warmer and not affected in the same way. Of salty waters the only one that is hard is the water of Arethusa. Inferior, also, are the heavier, the harder, and the colder waters for the same reasons: they are more difficult to boil partly because of the large content of solids and partly because of their excess of cold. On the other hand, those which heat quickly are light and healthful. In Crannon there is a water, slightly warm, which retains warmth in the wine mixed with it for two or three days. Running waters, including those drawn from an aqueduct, are as a rule better than standing water, and when aerated are still softer. For this reason even snow water is thought to be good, because the more potable element is drawn to the surface and this is broken up by the air; it is, therefore, even better than rain water, and water obtained from ice, also, is better because it is lighter; the proof is that ice itself is lighter than water in general. But cold waters are hard because they are more solid, and whatever is corporeal is warmer when heated and colder when cooled. For the same reason water on the mountains is better to drink than water in the plains, because it is mixed less with solid matter. This solid matter also causes the shades of colour in water. For example, the water in the lake at Babylon is red for several days, while that of the Borysthenes at certain periods is violet-coloured, although it is extremely light. The proof: when the north wind blows the river rises higher than the Hypanis because of its lightness.

§ 2.17  In many places there are springs which are rather good to drink from and have a winy flavour, like the one in Paphlagonia, to which the natives are said to resort for tippling. Others, however, among the Sicani of Sicily, are salty as well as acid. In the dominion of Carthage there is a well in which the water at the top is like oil, but of a darker hue; they skim this off in globules and use it for sheep and cattle. Among other peoples also occur springs with a similar oiliness, like the one in Asia, about which Alexander wrote word that he had discovered a well of oil. Among the naturally warm waters some are fresh, as those in Cilician Aegae, in the neighbourhood of Pagasae, [43a] in the Trojan Larissa, in Magnesia, Melos, and Lipara; in Prusa, also, near the Mysian Olympus, are the so-called royal waters. But the waters in Asia near Tralles and the Characometes river, as well as those near the city of Nysa, are so oily that persons who bathe in them do not need oil. Similar, too, are those in the village of Dascylum. Those in Carura are drying and very warm, while those near the village of Men, in Phrygia, are rougher and contain more soda, as are those also in the village of Leon, as it is called, in Phrygia. The water near Dorylaion is very pleasant to drink; a noteworthy fact, since the water of Baiae or Baium harbour in Italy is quite undrinkable.

§ 2.18  When I had weighed the water from the Corinthian spring Peirene, as it is called, I found it to be lighter than any other in Greece. For I have no faith in the comic poet Antiphanes, when he says that Attica, besides excelling other places in many respects, has also the best water. His words are: "A. What products, Hipponicus, our country bears, excelling all in the whole world! Honey, wheat-bread, figs. — B. Figs, to be sure, it bears in plenty. — A. Sheep, wool, myrtle-berries, thyme, wheat, and water. Such water! You'd know in a minute you were drinking the water of Attica." Eubulus, writer of comedies, says that Chaeremon the tragic poet called water the river's "body": "After we had passed the boundaries of the sheepfolds and had crossed the water, body of the river." In fact, every faculty in us is nourished by water. In Tenos there is a spring with the water of which wine will not mix. And Herodotus, Book IV, says that the Hypanis as it issues from its sources is a thin stream of fresh water for a space of five days' journey, but after four more days of travelling it becomes bitter, because a bitter spring empties into it. Theopompus says that near the Erigon river is an acid water, and they who drink it become as intoxicated as those who drink wine.

§ 2.19  Moreover, Aristobulus of Casandria says that in Miletus there is a spring called Achilles' Well, the main stream of which is very sweet, but the surface is salty; with the water of this spring, so the Milesians say, the hero purified himself after he had killed Trambelus, king of the Leleges. They also assert that the water of Cappadocia, which is abundant and very good, never goes stale even though it has no outlet, unless it be that it flows underground. King Ptolemy, in the seventh book of his Commentaries, says that "as we drew toward Corinth, approaching by the so-called Contoporeia to where the ascent of the ridge is made," there was a spring sending forth a stream colder than snow; many refused to drink from it, expecting it to be frozen, but he adds that he himself drank of it. and Phylarchus says that they who have drunk of the spring of Cleitor cannot bear the smell of wine. Clearchus remarks that water is described as "white," just as milk is, but wine, like nectar, is said to be "red," honey and oil are "yellow," while the juice squeezed from mulberries is "black." Eubulus says that water makes those who drink nothing else fertile in devices, "whereas wine clouds our thinking." Ophelion, too, has the same verses.

§ 2.20   [44a] This much he said, speaking "to water," as lawyers do; and after a brief pause he resumed. Amphis, the comic poet, somewhere says: "So it turns out that there is reason in wine after all, while some who drink only water are silly fools." And Antiphanes: "With wine drive out wine, with bugle-call the bugle, the bawler with the herald, ache with ache, noise with noise, the strumpet with threepence, presumption with presumption, Callistratus with a cook, faction with faction, a fight with fighting, a boxer with black eyes, trouble with trouble, lawsuit with lawsuit, a woman with a woman." The ancients used the expression "unmixed" even of water. Thus Sophron: "unmixed water into the cup."

§ 2.21  Phylarchus says that Theodorus of Larissa, who always maintained an hostile attitude toward King Antigonus, drank nothing but water. He also says that all Iberians are water-drinkers, although they are the richest men in the world; he says that their parsimony leads them to eat only once a day, though they wear the most sumptuous clothes. And Aristotle (or was it Theophrastus?) records that a man named Philinus never used any other drink or food but milk all his life. Pythermus registers Glaucon among the tyrants of Peiraeus as a water-drinker also. Hegesander of Delphi says that Anchimolus and Moschus, sophists of Elis, drank water all their lives, and though they ate nothing but figs they enjoyed as robust a physique as anyone else; but their sweat was so ill-smelling that everybody avoided them at the public baths. Matris of Thebes, also, ate nothing but a few myrtle-berries as long as he lived, abstaining, too, from wine and everything else except water. Another water-drinker was Lamprus the musician, concerning whom Phrynichus says: "And the pipes struck up their dirge while Lamprus lay a-dying among them — a water-drinking mortal he, a mincing charlatan surpassing them all, dry bones of the Muses, nightmare to nightingales, a hymn of Hades." Machon, another comic poet, mentions a water-drinker named Moschion.

§ 2.22  Aristotle, in his work on Drunkenness, maintains that some persons have stayed free from thirst while eating salty food; one of these was Archonides of Argos. Mago of Carthage crossed the desert three times, eating dry meal and having nothing to drink. Polemon the Academic began when he was thirty years old to drink only water, and kept it up until his death, according to Antigonus of Carystus. So, too, of Diocles of Peparethus, Demetrius of Skepsis says that he drank cold water to the end of his life. A credible witness in his own case is the orator Demosthenes, who says that for a time he drank only water. Pytheas, at any rate, also says: "Why, you may see with your own eyes how utterly opposed in mode of life are the popular leaders of the day, Demosthenes and Demades. The one drinks water and spends his nights in study, so they say, while the other is a bawd, gets drunk every day, and with belly protruding rants at us in meetings of the Assembly." And Euphorion of Chalcis writes somewhat in this strain: "Lasyrtas the Lasionian felt no need at all of drink with his food, as other men do, yet he urinated like everyone else. [45a] And many persons eagerly undertook to watch him, but they desisted without discovering how the matter really stood. For in the hot summer weather they beset him closely for as much as thirty days, and although they observed that he did not abstain from any salt food, they were constrained to believe him when he said that he had a perfectly good bladder. To be sure, he did use liquids, nevertheless he had no real need of them with his food." "It is pleasant," says Antiphanes, "to change to different food, and when one is stuffed too often with common viands the mere taste of something new affords redoubled pleasure."

§ 2.23  The king of the Persians, as Herodotus tells us in the first book, has drinking-water brought to him from the Choaspes, which flows by Susa; that is the only water he drinks. Of this water, which has first been boiled, a very large number of four-wheeled wagons drawn by mules convey a supply in silver jars and follow in his train. Ctesias of Cnidus also tells how this water for the king is boiled and how it is put into the vessels and transported for his use, adding that it is very light and pleasant. When, too, the second king of Egypt, surnamed Philadelphus, gave his daughter Berenice in marriage to Antiochus, king of Syria, he took care to send her Nile water, for he wanted his daughter to drink of this river only. So writes Polybius. Heliodorus says that Antiochus Epiphanes, whom Polybius calls Epimanes ("the Mad") on account of his crazy doings, mixed wine in the well of Antioch. The same thing was done by the Phrygian Midas, according to Theopompus, when he desired to catch Silenus by making him drunk. The spring, says Bion, is midway between the Maedi and the Paeonians, and is called Inna. But Staphylus declares that Melampus was the first to invent the mixing of wine with water. Pleistonicus also remarks that water is a better aid to digestion than wine.

§ 2.24  Those who drink toasts too constantly come to have an unnatural condition of the stomach; it is much more apt to go wrong, and often causes corruption in the food taken. He, therefore, who would enjoy health should have recourse to suitable exercises to provoke abundant perspiration, and also to baths, in order to moisten and soften the body; then he should drink the best water obtainable, in winter and spring as hot as he can bear it, in summer cold, in order not to weaken the stomach before it must act; he should also drink in quantities proportioned to the amount of food, that the water may be absorbed in the system before the wine, and thus prevent the wine from being distributed in full force and so attack and eat away the walls of the vascular organs. But if any of us find this irksome, let him take before dinner some warm sweet wine diluted, preferably what is called protropos (the sweet Lesbian), which is good for the stomach. Wine that is rather sweet does not make the head heavy, as Hippocrates says in his book On Diet — a work which some entitle Acute Diseases, others On Barley Gruel, and others still Refutation of Cnidian Principles. He says: "Sweet wine is less apt to cause headache than that of more vinous power; it attacks the brain less violently, and traverses the digestive tract more easily than the other." We should not drink like the Carmani, of whom Poseidonius says: "These people, namely, eager to prove their friendship in their drinking bouts, open the veins of the forehead, and mixing the blood which streams down in their wine, they imbibe it, [46a] in the belief that to taste each other's blood is the highest proof of friendship. After this peculiar mode of drinking the wine, they smear the head with perfume, preferably of rose, but failing that, of quince, in order to repel the effects of the draught and not be injured by the fumes from the wine; if quince perfume is not at hand, they use orris or nard." Appropriately, therefore, Alexis says: "He anoints his nostrils with perfume; a highly important element of health is to put good odours to the brain."

§ 2.25  One should, however, avoid the richer unguents and drink water which is light and transparent in appearance, light, too, in actual weight and free from solid matter. Good water is that which heats and cools in a reasonable time, and when poured into a bronze or silver vessel does not tarnish it. Hippocrates also says: "Water which heats and cools quickly is always lighter in weight." Waters which cook vegetables slowly are poor. Such are those which contain soda or salt. In his treatise On Waters, Hippocrates calls good water "potable." Stagnant waters are bad, such as those in ponds and marshes. Even among spring waters the majority are too hard. And Erasistratus says: "Some persons approve waters by their weight without proper testing. Witness, for example, the water of the Amphiaraus spring compared with that of Eretria. The one is bad, the other good, but there is no difference in their weight whatever." Hippocrates in his work On Places says that all waters are best which issue from high elevations and deep-soiled hills. For they are clear and fresh, and may be mixed with only a little wine; in winter, also, they are tepid, in summer, cool. He particularly recommends those whose streams issue toward the rising sun, more especially toward the quarter where it rises in summer. For then they must necessarily be sparkling, fragrant, and light. Diocles says that water is useful for digestion; it does not cause flatulence, it is moderately cooling, clears the vision, does not oppress the head in the least, and produces activity of mind and body. Praxagoras, too, says the same, but he commends rain water, whereas Evenor prefers cistern water, and further says that the water from the Amphiaraus spring is superior in comparison with that of Eretria.

§ 2.26  That water is, beyond dispute, nourishing, is proved by the fact that some animals, like the cicadae, feed on that alone. Many other liquids are also nourishing, such as milk, barley-water, and wine. Children at the breast, at any rate, are sufficiently nourished by milk, and many tribes live by milk-drinking. There is also a story that Democritus of Abdera, having decided because of his years to give up life, cut down his food from day today; but when the holy days of the Thesmophoriae drew near, the women of his family entreated him not to die during the festival, since they desired to observe it. So he yielded, and bade them set before him a dish of honey; and the man survived the requisite number days although he ate only what was served of honey; when the days were over and the honey was removed, he died. But Democritus was always fond of honey, and when someone asked him how he might live a healthy life he replied, "by wetting his inside with honey, his outside with oil." [47a] So also the food of the Pythagoreans was a wheat loaf with honey, according to Aristoxenus, who says that those who eat this for luncheon are always exempt from sickness. And Lycus says that the Cyrnians (they dwell near Sardinia) are long-lived because they always eat honey, which is very abundant in their country.

§ 2.27  — Notice the expression "all reserving the inquiry" for "putting it off." — The word anestis is identical with nestis ("fasting"), by redundant use of a, like stachys and astachys ("ear of grain"). It is found in Cratinus: "Surely you are not the first uninvited guest to come to dinner hungry." The expression "sharp-set" is in Diphilus:"I like to see the sharp-set with their cloaks off, eager always to find out everything before the proper time." And Antiphanes: "A. One malady that he has is this: he is always ravenously hungry. — B. The fellow he means is an out-and-out Thessalian."And Eubulus: "Zethus he bade go and dwell on Thebes' sacred soil; because, it would appear, they sell bread cheaper there, and he was sharp-set. But the very musical Amphion he told to emigrate to glorious Athens, where the sons of the Cecropidae luxuriously — starve, gulping down the breezes and feeding on hopes."

§ 2.28  The compound "one-meal-man" is found in Alexis: "When you see an ordinary citizen eating one meal a day, or a poet who has lost his desire for songs and lyrics, then you may be sure the first has lost one half of his life, the other, one half of his art; and both are scarcely alive." Plato: "not eating one meal every day, but sometimes dining twice a day." They used to call sweetmeats nogaleumata. Araros: "Festive indeed are these sweetmeats (nogaleumata). Alexis: "In Thasian wines he soaks himself the rest of the day, and munches sweetmeats." Antiphanes: "Grapes, pomegranates, dates, and other sweetmeats." Philonides uses the word apositos ("abstaining from food"). Crobylus has autositos in the phrase "a parasite bringing his own food." "Unbreakfasted," says Eupolis in a compound word (anaristeton). "Eating-in-spite-of-himself" is another compound (ananko-sitos) in Crates and also in Nicostratus: "A lad . . . with hair cut bowl-fashion and clad in riding-cloak you bring home on occasion to eat against his will." Alexis used the word "luncheon-dinner" (aristo-deipnon): "With these dishes we can get up a short and sweet luncheon-dinner."

§ 2.29  (47e) After these words we arose and took new places on the couches according to each man's desire, without waiting for the generalissimo of the dinner-forces to act as usher. Besides the triclinia-dining-rooms with three couches, there were in ancient times rooms with four, seven, [47f] nine, and even higher numbers. Antiphanes: "Gathering you, when you numbered only three, in a three-couch dining-room." Phrynichus: "There was a beautiful room with seven couches, and another still with nine." Eubulus: "A. Set the heptaclinium ('room with seven couches'). — B. Here you have it. — A. Then bring five Sicilian couches. — B. Any other orders? — A. Yes, five Sicilian cushions." Amphis:"Are you never going to spread the couches in the triclinium?" [48a] Anaxandrides: "A triclinium was quickly made ready and the concert of old men began." — "Open, then, the guest-chambers and sweep the rooms, strew couches and set a mighty fire ablaze, take down the mixing-bowl and mix our best vintage."

§ 2.30  "But nowadays," says the philosopher Plato, "people make a distinction regarding the manufacture of bedding, according to whether it is intended to put over us or under us." So the like-named comic poet says:
"Then they lie down, luxuriously decked, on beds with ivory feet, with coverings dyed in purple, and blankets of Sardis red."
Now the weaving of many-coloured textures reached its height when the Cyprians Acesas and Helicon became the chief artists in the profession; they were celebrated weavers. Helicon was the son of Acesas, according to Hieronymus. In Delphi, at any rate, there is an inscription upon a certain work of art which reads: "Made by Helicon of Salamis, son of Acesas, upon whose handiwork the queenly Pallas breathed ineffable charm." An artist comparable to him was the Egyptian Pathymias. — "For I have long been frisking where the bed-clothes smell of rose leaves, bathing in dripping unguents," says Ephippus. Aristophanes: "You, that revel all night long in perfumed bedding, fondling the mistress!" And Sophron has "high-priced wraps, figured with birds." The most admirable Homer says that the bed-clothes under the body were "smooth," that is, white, not dyed or embroidered whereas the upper coverings were "fair robes of purple colour."

§ 2.31  The Persians were the first, according to Heracleides, to institute the so-called "bed-makers," in order to secure beauty and softness in the coverings. Now Timagoras (or Entimus from Gortyn in Crete), as Phaenias the Peripatetic tells us, once went up to visit the Great King, emulating Themistocles. In his honour Artaxerxes bestowed upon him a tent of extraordinary beauty and size, and a silver-footed bedstead; he also sent rich coverings and a slave to spread them, alleging that the Greeks did not know how to make a bed. This Cretan was even bidden to a breakfast of the king's relatives, since he had caught the king's fancy; this was an honour never accorded to any Greek before or since, being exclusively reserved for kinsmen. Certainly the Athenian Timagoras never enjoyed the honour, though he had done obeisance to the king and had been received by him with special favour; but some of the food served to the king was merely sent to him from the table. To the Spartan Antalcidas he sent his own chaplet after dipping it in perfume. But for Entimus he not only did all this, but also invited him to breakfast en famille. The Persians took umbrage at this, because they felt that the honour was being vulgarized, and also because new expedition against Greece was impending. But the king sent Entimus a silver-footed bed with its coverings, a tent with gaily-coloured canopy, a silver throne, a gilded sun-shade, twenty gold saucers set with jewels, one hundred large saucers of silver and silver mixing-bowls, one hundred concubines and one hundred slaves, [49a] and six thousand pieces of gold, beside all that was given to him for his daily necessities.

§ 2.32  Tables occur with ivory feet and tops of maple. Thus Cratinus: "With gay plumes and glistening spangles there await us here radiant lasses and three-legged tables made of maple." When a Cynic called the four-legged table a tripod, Ulpian, one of the guests at the savant's dinner, took exception and said: "Today 'I am going to have business on my hands after a period of idleness.' For where does he get his word 'tripod'? . . . unless, of course, he counts Diogenes' staff along with his legs and calls him a tripod, when everybody else call what are here set before us four-legged tables." Yet Hesiod, in The Marriage of Ceyx — for even though it is true that the grammarian tribe would divorce these verses from the poet, I think they are ancient — calls four-legged tables tripods. And even the highly gifted Xenophon writes, in Book Seven of the Anabasis: "Tripods were brought in for all, and these, numbering about a score, were laden with meat piled high." And he goes on: "The tables were always placed with particular care opposite the foreign guests." Antiphanes: "When the tripod had been removed and we were washing our hands." Eubulus: "A. Here are five tripods for you, and again five. — B. I shall turn into a tax-gatherer with all these fives!" Epicharmus: "A. What is this? — B. A tripod, of course. — A. Why, then, has it four legs? It isn't a tripos but rather, I think, a tetrapos. B. Well, its name is tripos, though to be sure it has four legs. — A. Then it must have been an Oidipos once — it's his own riddle you're thinking of." Aristophanes: "A. Bring us in a table with three legs, let it not have four. — B. Of course; where should I get a three-legged table with four legs?" —

§ 2.33  It was a custom at banquets, after the diner had taken his place on the couch, to hand him at once a tablet containing a list of what had been prepared, so that he might know what fare the chef intended to provide. —
Damsons. — Many old writers mention the great and famous city of Damascus. Now in the territory of the Damascenes there is a very large quantity of the so-called cuckoo-apples, cultivated with great skill. Hence this fruit gets the special name of "damson," excelling the same kind grown in other countries. These, then, are plums, mentioned, among others, by Hipponax: "They wore a chaplet of plums and mint." Alexis: "A. Now look you! I've seen a vision, I think, which portends victory. — B. Tell it. — A. Attention, then. In the stadium methought one of the contestants, stripped for the fray, came up and crowned me with a circling chaplet of plums. — FB. Great Heracles! — A. Ripe, they were." And again: "Have you ever seen a sweetbread nicely broiled, or a baked stuffed spleen, or a basket of ripe plums? That is how his face looks." Nicander: "The apple which they call the cuckoo's." But Clearchus the Peripatetic says that the Rhodians and the Sicilian Greeks call plums sloes, as does also the Syracusan Theocritus: [50a] "Young trees weighted to the ground with sloes. And again: "As much as an apple is sweeter than a sloe." But this fruit, though smaller round than a plum, is the same in taste, but slightly more acrid. Seleucus in his Dialect Lexicon says that ela, cuckoo-apples, and madrya are the same kind of plum. Madrya is for malodrya ("apple-fruit"); brabyla are so called because, being laxative, they "eject the food"; and ela is for mela ("apples"), according to Demetrius Ixion in his Etymology. But Theophrastus says: coccymelea ('plum-tree') and spodias ('bullace') — the latter is a kind of wild plum-tree;" while Araros calls both the plum-tree and its fruit coccymelon. Diphilus of Siphnos says that these are fairly juicy, perishable, easily excreted, but of little value as food.

§ 2.34  Cherries. — Theophrastus on Plants "The cherry is a tree of peculiar character and large growth; it even attains a height of twenty-four cubits. Its leaf is similar to that of the medlar, but is tough and broader; its bark is like the linden's, the blossom is white, resembling the pear and the medlar, composed of tiny flowers, and waxy. The fruit is red, shaped like a persimmon, but in size like a bean. But the stone of the persimmon is hard, while that of the cherry is brittle." And again: "crataegus ('thorn'), called by others crataegonus; this has an elongated leaf like that of the medlar but is larger, broader, and more oblong; but it has no fissure as the medlar leaf has. The tree does not grow to be either very tall or very thick; the wood is vari-coloured, yellowish and hard. The bark is as smooth as medlar. It has a single root, generally descending deep. The fruit is round like that of the wild olive; as it ripens it becomes yellow and then darkens; it has the flavour and the juiciness of a medlar, whence it may rather be regarded as a wild medlar." From this description, Athenaeus remarks, the scholar appears to means what we call today the cherry.

§ 2.35  Asclepiades of Myrlea, mentioning a kind of bush-cherry, spoke of it thus: "In the country of the Bithynians grows the bush-cherry, the root of which is not large, nor, for that matter, is the tree, but equal in size to the rose-bush; its fruit, in all other respects, resembles the cherry, but it causes drowsiness, as of wine, to those who eat too much, and makes the head ache." The author thinks, from this description, that Asclepiades is speaking of the arbutus. For not only does the tree bearing this fruit correspond to this description, but it is also true that whoever eats more than seven berries of it gets a headache. Aristophanes: "On the mountains, without cultivation, the arbutus-trees used to grow in plenty for their enjoyment." Theopompus: "They eat myrtle-berries and ripe fruit of the arbutus-tree." Crates: "The ripe loveliness of her breasts is as the apple or the arbutus-berry." Amphis: "The mulberry-tree, look you, bears mulberries, the ilex acorns, the strawberry-tree arbutus." Theophrastus: "The strawberry-tree, which bears the edible arbutus-berry." Concerning a satyr-play called Agen it is disputed whether the author is Python of Catana (or Byzantium) or King Alexander himself. Larensis, our author's host, says: "There are many things which you Greeks have appropriated as if you alone had given them names or were the first to discover them; but you are unaware that Lucullus, [51a] the Roman general who conquered Mithridates and Tigranes, was the first to import into Italy this tree from Cerasus, a city in Pontus. And he is the one who called the fruit cerasus ('cherry') from the name of the city, as our Roman historians record." But a certain Daphnus contradicted him: "Why! Many years before Lucullus a man of note, Diphilus of Siphnos, who flourished in the time of King Lysimachus, one of Alexander's successors, mentioned cherries in these words: 'Cherries are wholesome, juicy, but afford little nourishment; they are especially wholesome when eaten uncooked. The red Milesian varieties are superior, being diuretic.'"

§ 2.36  Mulberries. — Although all other peoples without exception call them by this name (sycamina), the Alexandrians call them mora. Now sycamina are not the fruit of the Egyptian fig-tree, called by some sycomora ("fig-mulberries"). In these latter the natives make a slight incision with a knife, and leave them on the tree. Fanned by the breeze, they grow ripe and fragrant in three days, especially when the winds are from the West, and they are then edible; so much so that the mild coolness they contain makes them fit to be made into a poultice with oil of roses and applied to the stomachs of fever patients, affording no little comfort to the ailing. But this fruit is produced on the Egyptian mulberry directly from the wood, and not from fruit-stalks. Mulberries are called mora also by Aeschylus in The Phrygians, where he says of Hector: "That poor devil was softer than a mulberry." And in The Cretan Women, of the blackberry: "It is loaded down at one and the same time with berries white, black, and vermilion." Sophocles: First you will see a white, flowering stalk, then a round mulberry that has turned red." And Nicander in the Georgics explains that it appears earlier than other fruits, and he always calls the mulberry-tree morea, as the Alexandrians do: "Then there is the fruit of the mulberry-tree, which is a delight to little boys, and is the first to proclaim the pleasant fruit season to mortals."

§ 2.37  Phaenias of Eresus, disciple of Aristotle, calls the fruit of the wild mulberry moron, and even it is very sweet and pleasant when ripe. He writes: "The thorny moron, when its mulberry-like cluster has withered, contains spermatic divisions like . . . salty, and these clefts crumble apart and have a pleasing flavour." But habryna is the name given by Parthenius to mulberries, which some call mora, while the Salaminians call these same berries batia. Demetrius Ixion says that sycamina and mora, which are the same, are derived from sycon ameina ("better than figs") and haimoroa ("flowing blood"). Diphilus, the physician of Siphnos, writes as follows: "Mulberries, also called mora, are juicy, but give little nourishment; they are wholesome and easily digested. A peculiarity of the unripe ones is that they expel worms." Pythermus, as quoted by Hegesander, [52a] records that in his time the mulberries bore no fruit for twenty years, and an epidemic of gout broke out so widespread that even boys, girls, eunuchs, and women, to say nothing of men, caught the disease; and a herd of goats also was so affected by the pest that two-thirds of the animals succumbed to the same calamity.

§ 2.38  Walnuts. — Attic and other writers agree in calling all hard-shelled fruits carya ("nuts"); but Epicharmus, like us, uses the word in a particular sense: "Munching dried walnuts and almonds." Philyllius: "Eggs, walnuts, and almonds." But Heracleon of Ephesus says: "They used to call even almonds and what are now known as chestnuts by the name of carya." And the tree, carya, occurs in Sophocles: "Walnut-trees and ash-trees." Eubulus: "Beechnuts and Carystian walnuts." Some varieties also go by the name of mostena.

§ 2.39  Almonds. — The almonds of Naxos were often mentioned in ancient writers, and in fact they are of excellent quality on that island, as I have proved to my own satisfaction, says Athenaeus. Phrynichus: "He has knocked out all my molars, so that I couldn't crack a Naxian almond." Excellent almonds also grow on the island of Cyprus; compared with varieties from other countries they are oblong and crooked at the extremity. Seleucus in his Dialect Lexicon says that the Lacedemonians call the nuts, when the outer skin is still soft, myceri, while the people of Tenos give that name to the nuts when sweet. But Amerias says that mycerus is a general name for almond. Almonds eaten before the symposium are very provocative of thirst. Eupolis: "Let me chew some Naxian almonds and drink wine from Naxian vines." Now there was a variety of vine called Naxia. Plutarch of Chaeronea tells how a physician at the house of Drusus, son of Tiberius Caesar, beat all the others in drinking, until he was detected in the act of eating five or six bitter almonds before the symposium began; when prevented from taking them he could not hold out in the drinking contest in the slightest degree. The cause, therefore, was to be found in the bitterness, which produces dryness and consumes moisture. The word amygdale ("almond"), according to Herodian of Alexandria, is derived from the fact that next to the green part it has many scarifications (amychae). "An ass you are, going to the husks of sweetmeats," Philemon somewhere says. "Beech-trees, Pan's delight," says Nicander in Book II of the Georgics. The neuter form amygdalon also occurs. Diphilus: "A sweet, some myrtle-berries, a cheese-cake, almonds."

§ 2.40  With reference to the placing of the accent in the word amygdale, Pamphilus insists that in speaking of the fruit the grave accent should be used as it is in the neuter amygdalon; for the name of the tree, on the other hand, he requires the circumflex, amygdale, like rhode. So, too, Archilochus: "The fair flower of the rose-bush (rhode)." [53a] But Aristarchus pronounces both the fruit and the tree in the same way, with the acute accent, while Philoxenus puts the circumflex on both. So, in Eupolis: "You will be the death of me, by the holy almond (amygdale) you will!" Aristophanes: "Come now, take these almonds (amygdalae) and crack them on your head with a stone." Phrynichus: "An almond (amygdale) is a good cure for your cough." While others accent amygdale like kale ("beautiful"), Tryphon, in his Accent of Attic Greek, makes the name of the fruit (amygdale) — [53b] to which we give the neuter form amygdalon — paroxytone, but the trees he calls amygdalas, the form being possessive and derived from the name of the fruit, and therefore circumflexed. Pamphilus in the Dialect Lexicon says that nut-cracker is called by the Lacedemonians mucerobagos, equivalent to "almond-breaker," since Lacedemonians call almonds muceri.

§ 2.41  The so-called Pontic nuts, which some call peel-nuts, are mentioned by Nicander. But Hermonax, and Timachidas in the Dialect Lexicon, say that the Pontic nut is known as Zeus-acorn. Heracleides of Tarentum raises the question whether or not dessert should be served first, as in some places of Asia and Hellas, instead of after dinner. If, for example, it is served after dinner, when a good deal of food is in the stomach and intestines, it happens that the nuts then eaten to incite thirst mix with this food and cause winds and fermentation of the food, because they naturally remain on the surface and digest with difficulty; hence indigestion and diarrhoea result.

§ 2.42  "Almonds," Diocles remarks, "are nourishing and good for the bowels, and are, moreover, calorific because they contain some of the properties of millet. The green are less unwholesome than the dry, the soaked than the unsoaked, the roasted than the raw. But the Heracleot nuts, also called Zeus-acorns, are not so nutritious as almonds, and besides have a drying property and lie on the top of the stomach; if too many are eaten they affect the head. Of these nuts, also, the green are less likely to cause trouble than the dry. The Persian nuts are as apt to cause headache as the Zeus-acorns, but are more nourishing; they roughen the throat and mouth, but are less noxious when roasted. They are digested more easily than other nuts when eaten with honey. The broad chestnuts are more windy, but when boiled they give less trouble than when raw or roasted, while the roasted are better than the raw." Phylotimus says in his work on Food: "The broad chestnut and the so-called Sardis nut are all of them hard to digest and dissolve when raw, since they are held in restraint by the phlegm in the stomach and possess astringency. The Pontic nut, also, is oily and hard to digest, the almond less so. We may, therefore, eat a rather large quantity and still feel no distress; moreover, they seem to be more fatty and produce a sweet, oily juice." And Diphilus of Siphnos says: [54a] "'Royal' nuts cause headache, and lie at the top of the stomach. Yet when they are still tender and have been blanched, they are better, being more juicy, while those which are roasted in ovens have little nutriment. Almonds are diuretic, attenuating, cathartic, and of little nutrition. Dried almonds, however, are much more windy and apt to lie on the stomach than the green, which, to be sure, have a poor flavour and are less nourishing. But if they are blanched when still tender though full grown, they are milky and of a better flavour. Among dried almonds the Thasian and Cyprian varieties, when still tender, are more easily excreted. The Pontic nuts cause headache, but are less apt to lie on the stomach than the 'royal.'"

§ 2.43  Mnesitheus of Athens, in his work on Edibles, says: "In the case of the Euboean nuts or chestnuts (for they are known by both names) disintegration in the stomach is difficult, and the digestive process is attended with wind; but they fatten the system if one can tolerate them. Almonds and the Heracleot and Persian nuts, and others of the same kind are less wholesome than chestnuts. In fact none of these varieties should be eaten raw excepting green almonds: some should be boiled, others roasted. For some of them, like dried almonds and Zeus-acorns, are fatty by nature, while others are tough and astringent, such as beech-nuts and similar sorts. The cooking process, therefore, removes the oil from the fatty varieties, that being the most harmful element, while the tough and astringent kinds are softened when one applies a little slow heat." But Diphilus calls chestnuts "Sardis-acorns" also, and says that they are nourishing and well-flavoured, but hard to assimilate because they remain a long time in the stomach; and though when roasted they are less filling, yet they are more easily digested. But the boiled not only inflate less, but also nourish more than the roasted.
"Lopimon ('peel-nut') and caryon the Euboeans called it, but others called it Zeus-acorn," says Nicander of Colophon in the Georgics. But Agelochus calls chestnuts amota: "Wherever the nuts of Sinope grow, there they called the trees amota."

§ 2.44  Chick-peas. — Crobylus: "They were playing at cottabos, having eaten a yellow chick-pea, entirely empty. B.: That's the dessert you would give to a God-forsaken monkey." Homer: "The black-skinned beans or chick-peas hop." Xenophanes of Colophon, in the Parodies: "As you lie stretched upon a soft couch by the fire in the winter season, these should be your words when you have had enough of food, and are sipping sweet wine and munching chick-peas the while: 'Who art thou among men, whence comest thou, how many are thy years, good sir? How old wert thou when the Mede came upon us?'" Sappho: "Golden chick-peas grew upon the shores." Theophrastus, Plants, calls some varieties chick-pea "rams." So, also, Sophilus: "This girl's father is easily the biggest ram chick-pea." And Phaenias in his notes on Plants says: "In the category of dessert are pulse, beans, and chick-peas when they are still soft and tender; but when they are dried they are pretty generally served (as vegetables) either boiled or roasted." [55a] Alexis: "My man is a pauper, and I am an old woman with a daughter and a son, this boy, and this nice girl besides, — five we are in all. If three of us get a dinner, the other two must share with them only a tiny barley cake. Sounds of wailing untuneful we utter when we have nothing, and our complexions grow pale with lack of food. The elements and the sum of our livelihood are these — a bean, a lupine, greens, and a turnip. Pulse, vetch, beech-nut, the bulb of an iris, a cicada, chick-pea, wild pear, and that God-given inheritance of our mother-country, darling of my heart, a dried fig, brought to light from a Phrygian fig-tree." Pherecrates: "You will make the chick-peas tender forthwith." And again: "He choked to death eating roasted chick-peas." Diphilus says that "chick-peas are hard to digest, but purgative, diuretic, windy." According to Diocles, they provoke fermentation in the body; but the white varieties, resembling boxwood, are superior to the black, the Milesian better than those called "rams"; the green, moreover, are better than the dried, the soaked better than the unsoaked. The use of chick-peas was revealed by Poseidon.

§ 2.45  Lupines. — "A. Bad cess to him, and all mischief, who has been eating lupines and left the shells in the vestibule, instead of choking as he gulped them down. And more than all . . . . — B. I'm sure it isn't Cleaenetus, the tragedian, who ate them; he wouldn't have thrown away the peel of any vegetable. He is such an obliging man!" Lycophron of Chalcis, in a satyr-play which he wrote in ridicule of the philosopher Menedemus, from whom the sect of the Eretrians received their name, satirizes philosophers' dinners in these words: "And there danced forth the plebeian lupine in lavish abundance, that companion of the paupers' triclinium."
Diphilus: "There is no trade more execrable than the bawd's. I'd rather tramp the streets peddling roses, radishes, lupine-beans, pressed olive cakes, anything at all, than keep these strumpets." Note the word "lupine-bean," says Athenaeus, since it is used in this way even today. Polemon says that the Lacedemonians call lupines lysilaidae, and Theophrastus records, in Plant Aetiology, that "the lupine, bitter vetch, and chick-pea are the only leguminous plants which do not breed worms, on account of their bitterness and sourness." "The chick-pea," he declares, "grows black as it decays." But the same authority, in the third book of the very same treatise, says that caterpillars occur in chick-peas.
Diphilus of Siphnos informs us that lupines are purgative and filling, especially if they have been sweetened for a considerable time. Hence it was that Zeno of Citium, who was very harsh and choleric toward his acquaintances, became gentle and bland after absorbing quantities of wine; and when people asked him to explain this change of manner, he answered that he underwent the same process as the lupine; for they too are very sour before they are soaked, but when steeped they become very sweet and mild.

§ 2.46   [56a] Calavances (Phaseloi). — Spartans at the feasts called Kopides ("Cleavers") serve as dessert dried figs, beans and green calavances. The account of it is in Polemon. Epicharmus: "Toast some calavances quickly, if Dionysus holds you dear. Demetrius: "A fig or a calavance or something like that."

§ 2.47  Olives. — Eupolis: "squids and over-ripe olives." The latter are called druppae by the Romans. Diphilus of Siphnos says that olives afford little nourishment and cause headache; black olives, moreover, are worse for the stomach and oppressive to the head; those called swimmers are more wholesome and act as an astringent on the bowels, while black olives are more wholesome if crushed. The crushed olives are mentioned by Aristophanes: "Have the olives crushed." Again: "Olives in brine are not the same as olives crushed in the press." And a little further on: "It's better to use crushed olives than briny." Archestratus in his Gastronomy writes: "Let them serve you with wrinkled, over-ripe olives." — "Wherefore, in pious memory of Marathon for all time, they all put marathon ('fennel') in the briny olives," says Hermippus. Philemon says: "The coarse variety are called 'bran' olives, while 'pressed olives' is the name given to the black." Callimachus gives a list of the kinds of olives in the Hecale: "The over-ripe and the bran, and the late autumn kind, which is preserved swimming in brine when it is still light green." According to Didymus, over-ripe olives used to be called ischades as well as gergerimoi. Moreover, without adding the word "olives" they were in the habit of using "over-ripes" substantively. Thus Telecleides: "Let him entreat me after a while to consort with over-ripes and barley cakes, and feed on sprays of chervil." The Athenians used to call pressed olives stemphyla, while brytea was their word for what we call stemphyla, being really pressed grapes. The word brytea comes from botrys ("bunch of grapes").

§ 2.48  Radishes. — These have their name from the ease (radios) with which they are produced. The last syllable (-is) is either long or short in Attic. Cratinus has it long: "The radishes, but not the other vegetables, have come to a decision." Eupolis makes it short:"unwashed radishes and squids." That the word "unwashed" is to be construed with "radishes" and not with "squids" is proved by Antiphanes writing the following: "To gobble up ducks, honey-comb, nuts, eggs, honey cakes, unwashed radishes, turnips, gruel, and honey." Properly the term "unwashed" was applied in this way to radishes which were called Thasian. Pherecrates: "We have on hand an unwashed radish, hot baths ready, stewed pickle-fish, and nuts." The diminutive form rhaphanidion occurs in Plato, Hyperbolus: "A little lettuce leaf or bit of radish." Theophrastus in his Plants says that there are five kinds of radish — Corinthian, Leiothasian, Kleonaian, Amorean, and Boeotian; by some, however, the Leiothasian is called Thracian; the sweetest is the Boeotian, and it is round in shape; in general, he adds, the varieties with smooth leaves are sweeter. But [57a] Callias uses the word rhaphanos of the radish. For, in explaining the antiquity of comedy he says: "Pease-porridge, fire, turnips, radishes (rhaphanoi), ripe olives, phallic cakes." That he really means radishes is proved by Aristophanes. For he also writes about the antiquity of comedy in the Danaids, and says: "The chorus would dance wrapped up in rugs and bundles of bedding, sticking under their arm-pits ribs of beef, sausages, and radishes." The radish, moreover, is a very cheap article of food. Amphis: "Any man who goes to market to get some delicacy and prefers to buy radishes when he may enjoy real fish must be crazy."

§ 2.49  Pine kernels. — Mnesitheus the Athenian physician, in his work on Edibles, calls the seeds of conifers ostracides and again he calls them cones. But Diocles of Carystus calls them "pine-nuts," while the Myndian Alexander calls them "pine-cones." Theophrastus gives the name peuce ("pine") to the tree, but calls its fruit "cone." But Hippocrates in the work on Tisane, half of which is spurious (some even think the whole is), calls them coccali ("kernels"). Most authorities, however, call them pyrenes("stones"), as does Herodotus also in speaking of the Pontic nut. For he says that "this has a kernel when it is ripe." Diphilus of Siphnos says: "These cones are nourishing, they smooth the bronchial tubes and clear the organs of the diaphragm by means of the resinous principle contained in them." Mnesitheus, also, agrees that they fatten the body and produce no ill effects on digestion; they are also diuretic and do not inhibit the action of the bowels.

§ 2.50  Eggs. — Anaxagoras, in the Physics, explains that the popular expression "bird's milk" means the white of an egg. Concerning eggs, compare Aristophanes: "In the beginning Night laid a wind-egg (oon). Sappho makes the word a trisyllable: "They say, you know, that Leda once found an egg (oion)." And again: "much whiter than an egg." But Epicharmus said oeon: "eggs (oea) of the goose and of winged fowls." So also Simonides in the second book of his Iambic Verses: "like the egg of a Maeander goose." Anaxandrides even extended it to four syllables when he said oaria. And Ephippus: "Little jars of date-wine, egglets, too, and many other like toys." Alexis, I believe, speaks of slices of egg. Wind-eggs they used to call hypenemia as well as anemiaea. "What is known among us today as the upper-story (hyperoon) of a house they used to call an egg (oon)," says Clearchus in the Amatoria, explaining that since Helen was reared in an upper-story she caused the report to spread that she had sprung from an egg. But Neocles of Croton was mistaken in saying that the egg from which Helen sprang fell from the moon; for, though the moon-women lay eggs, their offspring are fifteen times larger than we are, as Herodorus of Heracleia records. Ibycus, in the fifth book of his Lyrics, says of the Molionidae: [58a] "I likewise slew the white-horsed youths, sons of Molione, equal in age and in height, with their limbs joined in one, both hatched in a silver egg." Ephippus: "Sesame-cakes, bonbons, . . . honey-cakes, milk-cake, and a hecatomb of eggs — all these we nibbled at." Sucked eggs are mentioned by Nicomachus: "My father left me a tiny bit of property, but in a few months I squeezed it up and pipped it out as dry as one would suck an egg." And goose eggs are mentioned by Eriphus: "A. Eggs white, indeed, and large. — BB. Goose eggs, in my opinion. And yet he says that Leda laid them!" Epaenetus and Heracleides of Syracuse in the Art of Cookery say that peacocks' eggs excel all others; after them come the eggs of the fox-goose; they put hens' eggs third.

§ 2.51  Appetizers. — After the first appetizer was drunk all round, says Athenaeus, the master of ceremonies, who was Ulpian, asked whether the word for "appetizer," propoma, was found in any author in the sense in which we use it. While the others were racking their brains he answered, "I will tell you myself, Phylarchus of Athens (or Naucratis), in the passage dealing with Zelas, king of Bithynia (the same who invited the leaders of the Gauls to an entertainment with treacherous designs against them, but was killed himself) says, if I have the luck to remember it: 'An appetizer (propoma) was handed round before dinner, as had been the custom in the beginning.'" After delivering himself of this wisdom, Ulpian asked for a drink from the cooler, expressing great satisfaction in his ready memory. Among the ingredients used in the preparation of these "fore-drinks" Athenaeus mentions particularly the following.

§ 2.52  Mallows. — Hesiod: "And they knew not how much virtue lies in the mallow or the asphodel." Malache ("mallow") is the Attic form, but I have found it, he says, written with an o in many copies of Antiphanes' Minos: "eating the root of the moloche." So Epicharmus: "I am more gentle than a moloche." Phaenias in the work on Plants says: "In the cultivated mallow the seed mould is called placenta, being similar in appearance; for its comb-like structure may be compared to the base of the placenta, and in the middle of the placenta-like mass the central point resembles a navel. When the base is removed this mass looks like a cross-section of the sea-urchin." The Siphnian Diphilus records that the mallow is juicy, softening the bronchial tubes and carrying off the bitter humour at the top of the stomach; it is, accordingly, a specific for irritations of the kidneys and bladder; it is also nourishing and quite easily digested, though the wild is better than the garden variety. And Hermippus, the disciple of Callimachus, also says that the mallow is an ingredient of the remedy known as alimon, also adipson, being very useful for the purpose.

§ 2.53  Gourds. — Euthydemus of Athens, in his work on Green Vegetables, calls the gourd "Indian sikya," because the seed was imported from India. The Megalopolitans call it sikyonia. Theophrastus says that it is impossible to put all gourds in a single category, some being better, others poorer. [59a] But Menodorus, disciple of Erasistratus and a friend of Hicesius, says that of the gourds there are the Indian, all called sikya, and the colocynth. Further, the Indian is generally boiled, but the colocynth may also be baked. Yet even to this day the colocynth is called "Indian" by the Cnidians. The Hellespontines call the long gourds sikyae, but the round gourds they call colocynths. Diocles says that colocynths grow best in Magnesia, and are, moreover, quite round, very large, sweet, and wholesome; the best cucumber grows in Antiochia, the best lettuce in Smyrna and Galatia, the best rue in Myra. Diphilus says: "The colocynth is not filling; it is easily digested, adds moisture to the system, is easily passed, and juicy. It is more wholesome when eaten with water and vinegar, and has more flavour when seasoned; more apt to cause thinness when eaten with mustard, and more digestible and more easily excreted when boiled." And Mnesitheus says: "All vegetables which are easily affected by the action of heat, such as the cucumber, the pumpkin, quinces, sparrow-quinces, and the like, when eaten cooked, may afford but little nourishment to the body; but they are innocuous and provide moisture. Yet they are all apt to check the action of the bowels, and should preferably be eaten boiled." Attic writers use one word, colocynth, for them all. Hermippus: "What a huge head he has! As big as a pumpkin." Phrynichus uses a diminutive form: "A little bit of barley cake or pumpkin." Epicharmus has the regular form: "Surely it is much more healthful than a pumpkin."

§ 2.54  Epicrates the comic poet has the following: "A. What about Plato and Speusippus and Menedemus? On what subjects are they discoursing today? What weighty idea, what crucial point is now debated in their school? Tell me wisely, if you've come with any knowledge, for the land's sake, tell me. — B. Why, yes, I can tell you about these fellows with certainty. At the Panathenaea I saw a troop of lads . . . at the playground of the Academy I heard words unutterable, extraordinary. For they were making definitions about nature, and separating into categories the ways of beasts, the nature of trees, the kinds of vegetables; and in the course of it they were seeking to determine what species the pumpkin belonged to. — A. And what conclusion, then, did they reach, and of what species is the plant? Tell me, if you really know. B. Well, then; in the first place, they all in silence took their station and with heads bowed low they reflected a long time. Then suddenly, while the lads were still bending low in study, one said it was a round vegetable, another said it was grass, a third a tree. On hearing that, a physician from Sicily could contain himself no longer, and snapped his fingers at them for a pack of lunatics. — A. They must have got awfully angry at that, I suppose, and cried out that it was a shameful insult? For to do that kind of thing in the club lounge is indecent. — B. No, the lads didn't mind it at all. And Plato, who was standing by, very mildly, and without irritation, told them to try again to define the species to which the pumpkin belongs. So they set to inquiring."

§ 2.55  The witty Alexis serves a complete appetizer for the discriminating: [60a] "I arrived uninvited at the moment when the affair was hurrying to a climax. Water was poured over my hands. A slave came with the table; on it lay no cheese, no assortment of olives, no dainty entrees or fol-de-rol to offer us their generous smell; on the contrary, there was set before us a platter with a marvellous smell of the Seasons, shaped like the hemisphere of Heaven's vault. For all the beauties of the constellations were on it — fish, kids, the scorpion running between them, while slices of egg represented the stars. We laid hands upon it. The man next me was busy talking to me and nodding his head, and so the whole labour devolved upon me. I never reached the end until I had dug into that platter and made it look like a sieve."

§ 2.56  (60b) Mushrooms. — Aristias: "With champing of champignons the stony ground resounded." Poliochus: "Both of us broke a bit of black barley bread, with chaff mixed in the kneading, twice a day, and had a few figs; sometimes, too, there would be a braised mushroom, and if there were a little dew we'd catch a snail, or we'd have some native vegetables or a crushed olive, and some wine to drink of dubious quality." Antiphanes: "Our dinner is a barley cake bristling with chaff, cheaply prepared, and perhaps one iris-bulb or a dainty dish of sow-thistle or mushroom or any other poor thing that the place affords us poor creatures. That is our mode of life, without heat, without excitement. Nobody eats thyme when meat is to be had, not even they who profess to be Pythagorean vegetarians." And going on he says: "For who among us knows the future, or what any of our friends is doomed to suffer? Take then these two mushrooms gathered from the ilex and bake them quickly." Cephisodorus, disciple of Isocrates, in his Animadversions on Aristotle (a work in four books), blames the philosopher for not having thought it worth while to collect proverbs, whereas Antiphanes wrote a whole play entitled Proverbs. From this the following verses are cited: "For if I should touch any of your food, I should feel as if I had eaten raw mushrooms or puckery apples or whatever food there is that chokes."

§ 2.57  Mushrooms grow on the ground, and few of them are edible. Most of them cause death by choking. Hence Epicharmus said in jest: "You are like mushrooms: you will dry me up and choke me to death." Nicander in the Georgics gives a list of the poisonous varieties in these lines: "Deadly pains are laid up in store for the olive-tree, the pomegranate, the ilex, and the oak, the choking weight of swelling mushrooms which adhere to them." But he also says that [61a] "when you hide deep in dung the stalk of a fig-tree and water it with ever-running streams, mushrooms will grow at the base and be harmless; from it cut not away at the root the mushroom thus grown." (The rest was illegible.) "And at the same time you shall steam some amanita mushrooms," says the same Nicander in the same work. Ephippus has a line running: "That I, like a mushroom, might choke you." Eparchides says that the poet Euripides, while staying on Icaros, wrote an epigram on a woman who, with her children, two grown-up males and an unmarried daughter, ate some poisonous mushrooms in a field, and died by asphyxiation along with her children. This is the epigram: "O god of the sun, who dost traverse the eternal vault of the sky, have thine eyes ever beheld like woe? A mother and her daughter unwed, with brothers twain, dead on the same fateful day!" Diocles of Carystus, in Book I of his Health, says: "Wild vegetables fit to boil are the beet, mallow, sorrel, nettle, orach, iris-bulbs, truffles, and mushrooms."

§ 2.58  Marshwort. — Speusippus, in Book II of Similars, says that this grows in water and has a leaf like marsh celery. Hence Ptolemy II Euergetes, once ruler of Egypt, thought that in Homer we ought to write: "And all about soft meadows bloomed of marshwort and celery." For marshwort, he maintained, grows where there is celery, but violets do not.

§ 2.59  Diphilus says that mushrooms have a good taste, are laxative and nourishing, but may cause indigestion and flatulence. Such especially are those which come from the island of Ceos. "Many, however, cause death, but those seem to be proper to eat which are very thin, tender, and friable, growing on elms and pine-trees. Unfit to eat are those which are black, livid, and hard, or which become tough after boiling and serving; when these are eaten they are often fatal. A good antidote is a draught of hydromel, or honey-vinegar, or soda and vinegar. Vomiting should follow the drink. Hence mushrooms ought to be prepared in the first instance with vinegar, or with honey and vinegar, or honey and salt alone, since in this way the choking element is removed." And Theophrastus, in the History of Plants, writes: "Such plants grow in some cases underground, in other cases on the ground; among the latter are what some call peziae ('puff-balls'), which occur among mushrooms. For they also, as it happens, have no roots; but the mushroom has a lengthy stalk like an adherescent growth, and roots extend from it." He also says that in the region of the sea round the Pillars of Heracles, whenever it rains copiously, mushrooms grow by the sea which are turned into stone by the action of the sun. And Phaenias, also, in Book I of his Plants, says: "Other plants, again, produce not even so much as a blossom, nor is there any trace of a club-like bud containing a seed, or any seed process whatever; such are the mushroom, truffle, fern and helix-ivy." The same author speaks of "the fern, which some call blachnum." Theophrastus in the Plants, again: "Smooth-skinned flora, like the truffle, mushroom, puff-ball, and crane-truffle."

§ 2.60   [62a] Truffles. — These also grow spontaneously in the ground, chiefly in sandy places. And Theophrastus says of them: "The truffle (which some call crane-truffle) and any other underground plant." And again: "This is also the mode of growth and the physical habit of these underground plants, such as the truffle, and the fungus which grows in Cyrene and is called misy. This is regarded as very good, and it has the odour of meat, like the oiton which grows in Thrace. Concerning these a singular fact is mentioned; it is said, namely, that they grow when the autumn rains come with severe thunderstorms; the more thundering there is, the more they grow, the presumption being that this is the more important cause. They are not perennial, but come up every year, and the proper time to use them is in the spring, when they are at their height. Nevertheless some suppose that they have a seed origin. For on the coast of Mitylene, they say, truffles do not grow until a heavy rain comes and the seed is washed down from Tiarae. Now this is a place in which they grow plentifully. And they are more apt to occur on the seashore and wherever the ground is sandy, as it is in Tiarae. They also grow in the Abarnis district near Lampsacus, in Alopeconnesus, and in Elis." Lynceus of Samos says that "the sea produces a nettle, the dry land truffles," and Matron the parodist, in the Banquet, has, "He brought oysters, which are the truffles of the Nereid Thetis." Diphilus says that truffles are not easy to digest, but they are juicy and lenitive, and aid evacuation; yet some of them, like mushrooms, cause death by choking. Hegesander of Delphi says that on the Hellespont occurs neither truffle nor glauciscus nor thyme; which caused Nausicleides to remark that neither is there springtime nor friend in that region. Pamphilus, in his Dialect Lexicon, uses the term hydnophyllum of the grass which grows over truffles, by which they are detected.

§ 2.61  The Nettle. — Among Attic writers this name (akalephe) is given both to the herbaceous plant and the weed which stings. Aristophanes in the Phoenician Women: "In the beginning grew spike-lavender, and after that rock-nettles."

§ 2.62  Asparagus. — The varieties of this vegetable go under the name of swamp and mountain asparagus. The finest of these do not grow from seed. They have healing power over all internal complaints. Those which are sown grow to an extraordinary size, and it is said that in Gaetulia, a district of Libya, they have the thickness of the Cyprus reed, and a height of twelve feet; in mountain regions or near the ocean they have the thickness of large fennel, and a height of about twenty cubits. Cratinus spells the name with a phi, "aspharagus." So, too, Theopompus: "And then, spying some asparagus in a thicket . . ." Ameipsias: "No squill and no asparagus, no boughs of bay." Diphilus declares that cabbage-asparagus, known by the special name of ormenos ("shooting stalk") is more wholesome and easier to pass, but is bad for the eyes. Moreover, it is bitter, acts as a diuretic, and injures the kidneys and bladder. Only Attic writers employ the term ormenos for the stalk which springs up out of the cabbage. Thus Sophocles in the Ichneutae: "The stalk shoots forth and never more pauses in its growth," from the notion of "bursting forth" and "growing." [63a] For the spelling with pi, "asparagus," see Antiphanes: "Asparagus was in its glory, and pulse was in full bloom." Aristophon:"Capers, pennyroyal, thyme, asparagus, pitch, thorn, sage, and rue."

§ 2.63  The Snail. — Philyllius: "I'm not a cicada nor yet a snail, woman!" And again: "Sprats . . . . mackerel, snails, crow-fish." Hesiod calls the snail "carry-house." So Anaxilas: "You are very much more suspicious than snails, which in distrust carry their houses about with them." Achaeus: "Does Aetna nourish such large horned snails?" A saying, too, which ranks as a conundrum is propounded at symposia concerning snails as follows: "Born in the wood, yet having no thorns and no blood, moving in a slimy trail." Aristotle, in Book Five of The History of Animals, remarks: "Snails are observed to be in spawn in autumn and spring;" and further: "They are the only testaceous animals which have been seen in the act of copulating." And Theophrastus, in his work on Animals that Live in Holes, says that "snails seek their holes even in winter, but to a greater degree in summer. Hence, also, they appear in greatest numbers during the autumn rains. Their retreat in summer is either on the ground or in trees." Some snails soldier called sesili. Epicharmus: "A. I'll trade all this stuff for locusts, and for mussels I'll take the snail. — B. Be off to the devil!" But Apollas says the Lacedemonians call the snail semelus, while Apollodorus, in the second book of Etymologies, says that some snails go by the name of "dinner-delayers."

§ 2.64  Bulbs — Heracles declines to eat these in Eubulus's Amaltheia, saying: "Be it hotter or crisper or something in between, this is more important for any man than capturing Troy. As for me, I have not come here to browse on kale or silphium or sacrilegious bitter dishes or bulbs. But on what counts first as real food, promoting health and the full vigour of physical strength, I have always been wont to feed — beef boiled and unspoiled, in huge quantity, with a generous portion of foot and snout, and three slices of young pork sprinkled with salt." Alexis, dwelling on the aphrodisiac properties of bulbs, says: "Pinnas, crayfish, bulbs, snails, buccina, eggs, extremities, and all that. If anyone in love with a girl shall find any drugs more useful than these . . ." Xenarchus in Bucolion: "That house perisheth whose master's fate it is to lose his virile powers, and upon which the avenging angel of the Pelopidae hath burst in full force. Impotent is that house, and even the bung-necked comrade of the goddess Deo, the earth-born bulb, so helpful to its friends when boiled, has no power to save it now; [64a] all in vain, too, does the polyp, nurtured in the dark eddies of the sea and stirring the blood to passion, when caught in the coiled constraints of the net, fill the strong-bodied hollow of the dish, daughter of the potter's wheel." Archestratus: "Good-bye, say I, to sauce-dishes filled with bulbs and kale, and to all other cheap relishes."

§ 2.65  Heracleides of Tarentum, in the Symposium: "Bulbs, snails, eggs, and the like are supposed to produce semen, not because they are filling, but because their very nature in the first instance has powers related in kind to semen." Diphilus: "Although bulbs are not easy to digest, yet they are nourishing and wholesome; further, they are purgative, they dull the eyesight, and they rouse sexual desire." But, as the proverb has it, "A bulb will do you no good unless you have the qualities of a man." As a matter of fact, the so-called regal bulbs, which are better than all others, do excite passion. After them come the red varieties. The white and Libyan kinds are like squills; poorest of all are the Egyptian.

§ 2.66  Those called bulbinae are more juicy, but are not so healthful because of a rather sweetish quality; they are, moreover, very fattening, being very hard, and they are easily passed. The bulbina is mentioned by Matron in his Parodies: "But sow-thistles, that plant full of marrow, which wears its long hair in prickles, I will not mention or name; the bulbinae, too, theme of Olympian Zeus's song, which Zeus's child, the infinite rain, breeds on the dry land, whiter than snow, looking like cakes of fine meal; for these as they grow the august belly yearns."

§ 2.67  Nicander recommends "Megarian bulbs," and Theophrastus, in the seventh book of Plants, says that "in some places bulbs are so sweet that they may be eaten raw, as in the Tauric Chersonesus." Phaenias records the same. Theophrastus adds that there is a variety of wool-bearing bulbs which grows on the sea-shore. The wool is contained underneath the first layers, between the inner edible part and the outer skin. From it are woven socks and other articles of wear; and according to Phaenias, the Indian bulb is hairy. On the mode of preparing bulbs Philemon says: "Look, if you please, at the bulb, and see what lavish expense it requires to have its reputation — cheese, honey, sesame-seed, oil, onion, vinegar, silphium. Taken by itself alone it is poor and bitter." And Heracleides of Tarentum, restricting the use of bulbs at a symposium, says: "Too much eating must be eliminated, especially in the case of foods which contain sticky, glutinous matter, such as eggs, bulbs, beef-extremities, snails, and the like. For they stay too long in the stomach, and becoming entangled they check the flow of the humours."

§ 2.68  Thrushes. — Of these, as well as of other birds, whole flocks were served up in the appetizers before dinner. Telecleides: "Roast thrushes served up with milk-cakes were flying into his gullet." Syracusans call thrushes kichelae. Thus Epicharmus: "kichelae, too, which like to eat the olives." Thrushes are mentioned also by Aristophanes in the Clouds. Aristotle records three varieties of thrush, [65a] of which the chief and largest is about the size of a jay; it is called missel-thrush, because it eats mistletoe-berries. The second is as large as a blackbird, and is called the hairy thrush (Turdus ericetorum). The third, smaller than the two just mentioned, is called illas. But others call it tylas, "tufted," as Alexander of Myndus tells us; it is as fond of flying in flocks as the swallow, and builds its nest in the same way. The little epic poem ascribed to Homer, entitled Epikichlides, got this name from the fact that when Homer sang it to children he received a present of thrushes; Menaechmus records this in his work on Artists.

§ 2.69  Alexander of Myndus records the following: "The second variety of titmouse is called by some elaios, by others pyrrhias; but it has the name of sykalis when the figs (syka) are ripe." There are two varieties of it, the fig-pecker and the black-cap. Epicharmus: "shiny fig-peckers;" and again: "And there were also many herons with long curving necks, seed-picking pheasants, and shiny fig-peckers." The last are caught in the fig season, for which reason the name would better be spelled with one l; for the sake of the metre Epicharmus spells it with two.

§ 2.70  Finches. — Eubulus: "'Twas at the feast of the Amphidromia, when the custom is to toast a slice of Cherronesian cheese, to boil a cabbage glistening in oil, to broil some fat lamb chops, to pluck the feathers from ring-doves, thrushes, and finches withal, at the same time to devour cuttle-fish and sprats, to pound with care many wriggling polyps, and drink many a cup not too diluted."

§ 2.71  Blackbirds. — Nicostratus (or Philetaerus) says: "A. What, then, shall I buy? tell me, pray. — B. Not too extravagantly, but tidily; get some hares, if you find any, and ducklings as many as you like; thrushes, too, and blackbirds, and a lot of these wild fowl. For that will be nice." Antiphanes also names starlings among articles of food: "Honey, partridges, ring-doves, ducks, geese, starlings, a jay, a jackdaw, a blackbird, a quail, a hen." You demand of us a reason for everything, and we can't speak a word that you do not question. Mention of the sparrow occurs in Eubulus as well as in other authors: "Buy four or five partridges, three hares, sparrows to gobble greedily, some goldfinches and parrots, chaffinches, and kestrels, and anything else that you find." Pigs'

§ 2.72  Brains. — The wise would not allow us to eat these, quoting, of those who partake of them, that "to eat beans amounts to the same thing as eating" not merely the "heads of one's parents," but the heads of anything else that is unhallowed. At any rate, none of the ancients ate pigs' brains because in them reside virtually all the senses. [66a] Apollodorus of Athens even says that none of the old writers so much as mentions them. Sophocles, for example, when he makes Heracles in The Trachinian Women throw Lichas into the sea, does not mention the brain, but only the white marrow, avoiding a word which may not be spoken: "He spilled the white marrow from the hair, when the head was split in the middle and blood spurted forth with it." All the other horrors he expressly mentions, but nothing about the brains. Similarly Euripides, when he introduces Hecuba singing her dirge over Astyanax, who has been dashed to the ground by the Greeks, says: "Poor babe, how cruelly have these ancestral walls, the towers reared by Loxias, shorn from thy head those locks which thy mother oft tended and covered with kisses; but now from thy shattered bones grins — murder, that I may not say the shameful word." Now the proper interpretation of both these quotations requires attention. For Philocles does use the word: "He would not even leave off eating brains;" and so does Aristophanes: "I should lose two portions of brain," to say nothing of the other poets. Sophocles, therefore, must have said "white marrow" euphemistically, while Euripides, preferring not to set before us the loathsome and unseemly too vividly, hinted at it as seemed to him good. That people regarded the head as sacred is clear from the fact that they swore by it and did obeisance to the sneezes which came from it, as if they were sacred. What is more, even as the Homeric Zeus says: "Come now, I will bow my head in assent to thee."

§ 2.73  Into the appetizer these ingredients also were put, — pepper, a salad leaf, myrrh, sedge, and Egyptian perfume. Antiphanes: "If, then, a man just buys some pepper and brings it home, they denounce him as spy fit for the rack." Again: "Now must I go round looking for a peppercorn and a blite-berry." Eubulus: "Take, woman, a seed of Cnidian bay or pepper, pound it together with myrrh and sprinkle over the path." Ophelion: "Libyan pepper, fragrant incense, and a lunatic book of Plato's." Nicander in the Theriaca: "or even the downy leaves of than flea-bane — often again, chopping up fresh pepper or Median cress." Theophrastus in the History of Plants: "Pepper is a berry, and there are two kinds of it. The one is round as a pea, with a reddish shell, the other is oblong and black, with poppy-like seeds. The latter is much stronger than the former, but both are hot and therefore serve as antidotes to hemlock." And in the chapter On Suffocation he writes: "Their resuscitation is effected by an infusion of vinegar and pepper or nettle pounded with the pepper-berry." We should observe, by the way, this fact, that there is no neuter noun in Greek ending in i, with the sole exception of meli ("honey"); for peperi, kommi ("gum"), and koiphi are foreign words.

§ 2.74  Oil. — Samian oil is mentioned by Antiphanes (or Alexis): "Here you have ten gallons of Samian oil, whitest of all." [67a] And the Carian is mentioned by Ophelion: "He anoints himself with Carian oil." Amyntas in the Persian Itinerary says: "The mountains produce turpentine, squills, and Persian nuts, from which much oil is made for the king." But Ctesias says that in Carmania an oil of thorns is produced which the king uses. He also gives a list of all articles prepared for the king's table in this book of his on the Tributes paid throughout Asia, but he includes neither pepper nor vinegar, "which is the one best requirement in condiments." But neither does Dinon in his Persian History, although he mentions the salt called ammoniac, saying that both it and Nile water were regularly sent to the king from Egypt. Another oil, the so-called "raw-pressed," is mentioned by Theophrastus in the work on Odours, wherein he says that it is made from unripe olives and almonds. Amphis also mentions the oil produced in Thurii as being excellent: "In Thurii oil, in Gela lentil-soup."

§ 2.75  Pickled Fish (garos). — Cratinus has this: "Your pannier will be chock full of fish-pickle." Pherecrates: "He has fouled his beard in the fish-pickle." Sophocles in Triptolemus: "The pickle made of dried fish." Plato: "They will souse me and suffocate me in rotten fish-pickle." That the noun is masculine is proved by the masculine article which Aeschylus uses when he says: "the pickle made of fish."

§ 2.76  Vinegar. — This is the one condiment called by Attic writers "delight." The philosopher Chrysippus says that the best vinegar is the Egyptian and the Cnidian. But Aristophanes in the Plutus has "diluting with Sphettian vinegar," and Didymus, in expounding the verse says, "perhaps because the Sphettians are sharp." Aristophanes also somewhere mentions as excellent the vinegar of Kleonai: "There are vinegar-cruets in Kleonai too." And Diphilus: "A. He has crawled into a corner and is eating his dinner (can you imagine it?) in Laconian style: a cupful of vinegar. — B. Enough! — A. What do you mean by 'enough'? — B. A vinegar-cruet such as the Kleonaians use as a measure holds just that much." Philonides: "Their sauces have no vinegar." Heracleides of Tarentum in the Symposium says: "Vinegar causes some things exposed to the air to curdle, and it acts similarly on the contents of the stomach; yet it also dissolves things in the mass, because of course there are different humours mingled within us." The vinegar of Deceleia was also esteemed highly. Thus Alexis: "After compelling me to drain four cups of Decelean home-made vinegar, you now drag me straight through the market." The word oxygaron should be pronounced with a y, like the vessel which holds it, oxybaphon. Lysias, too, in a speech Against Theopompus, the charge being assault and battery, says, "I drink oxymel." In the same way, then, we will also say oxyrhodinon.

§ 2.77  Seasonings are found mentioned in Sophocles: "And the nice seasonings of food." Also in Aeschylus: "You soak the seasoning." And Theopompus also says: "Many bushels of seasoning, many sacks and bags of books, and all other necessities of life." [68a] The verb is also found in Sophocles: "I, being the cook, will season skilfully." Cratinus: "It isn't given to every man to season a sea-lizard nicely." Eupolis: "With a vile entree expensively seasoned." The following are listed as seasonings somewhere by Antiphanes: "Raisins, salt, boiled must, silphium, cheese, thyme, sesame-seed, soda, cummin, cashew-nut, honey, marjoram, chopped acorns, vinegar, olives, young greens for sour dressing, capers, eggs, smoked fish, cress, fig-leaves, rennet." The ancients were acquainted with the Aethiopian spice called cummin. "Thyme" and "marjoram" are masculine. Thus Anaxandrides: "Cutting some asparagus, squills, and marjoram, which, as everyone knows, when mixed with coriander, gives distinction to smoked fish." Ion: "But he quickly hides the marjoram in his hand." Plato, however (or is it Cantharus?), makes it a feminine word: "Or such very pungent marjoram from Arcadia." On the other hand, Epicharmus and Ameipsias make it neuter. As for "thyme," Nicander in Bee-Keeping treats it as masculine.

§ 2.78  Cratinus calls melons "seeded cucumbers" in the Odysseis: "A. Where, pray, did you see the man, Laertes' dear son? — B. In Paros, buying a huge seeded cucumber," Plato in the Laius: "Don't you see that Leagrus, scion of Glaucon's mighty race, wanders about like a silly gaping cuckoo with legs as fat as a ripe seedless melon?" Anaxilas: "His shins were swollen larger than a ripe melon." Theopompus: "She is more luscious than a ripe melon to me." Phaenias says: "The cucumber and the melon may be eaten raw when the outer flesh is tender and the seeds have been removed; when cooked only the outer flesh is eaten. A pumpkin is not edible when raw, but is good to eat when boiled or baked." And Diocles of Carystus, in the first book of his work on Health, says that the wild plants fit to cook are lettuce (the dark variety being the best), cress, coriander, mustard, onion (of this there is the variety known as scallion, and also the leek), garlic, clove-garlic, cucumber, melon, and poppy. A little further on he says: "But the melon is better for the heart and stomach. The cucumber, when boiled, is tender, innocuous, and diuretic. The melon is more laxative if cooked in syrup." Speusippus, in his Similars, calls the melon sikya, but Diocles, after mentioning the melon, omits this term, while Speusippus speaks of the sikya, but not the pepon. Diphilus says: "The melon is more juicy and astringent . . . is poorer in flavour and is also of little nourishment, being easily digested and easily eliminated."

§ 2.79  Lettuce. — Attic writers call this by the longer term thridakine. But Epicharmus uses the shorter, thridax: Lettuce with its stalk peeled off." [69a] A still longer form (thridakinis) is used by Strattis: "Ye leek-devouring grubs, which go up and down the leafy gardens in tracks made by fifty feet, and lay hold with your feet upon the long-tailed satyr-plant, winding your choral bands in and out among the leaves of basil and lettuce and fragrant celery." Now Theophrastus says that "the white variety of lettuce is the sweeter and more tender. There are three kinds — the flat-stalk, the round-stalk, and the Laconian. The last has a leaf like that of the cardoon, but it is erect and strong-growing, and sends forth no side-shoots from the stalk. Some specimens of the flat variety are so flat-stalked that some people actually use them as gates to protect their gardens." He also says that when the stalks have been broken the new shoots are sweeter.

§ 2.80  Nicander of Colophon, in the second book of his Dialect Lexicon, explains the word brenthis as the Cyprian term for lettuce; in this Adonis sought refuge from the wild boar which killed him. And so Amphis in the Lamentation says: "It was among the lettuce-plants, plague take them! Why, if a man not yet sixty should eat them when he desires commerce with a woman, he might twist and turn the whole night long without once accomplishing his desires, wringing his hands against stern fate instead of acting like a man." Callimachus, too, says that Aphrodite hid Adonis in a lettuce-bed, since the poets mean by this allegory that constant eating of lettuce produces impotence. So also Eubulus, in The Defectives, says: "Don't put lettuce on the table before me, wife, or you will have only yourself to blame. In that plant, the story goes, Kypris once laid out Adonis when he died; therefore it is dead men's food." And Cratinus says that Aphrodite, when she fell in love with Phaon, hid him away in "fair lettuce-beds," while the younger Marsyas declares that it was in a field of unripe barley. According to Pamphilus, in the Dialect Lexicon, Hipponax uses the form tetrakine for thridax ("lettuce"), and Cleitarchus says that this is the Phrygian term. Lycus the Pythagorean says that the naturally flat-leaved lettuce, smooth and stalkless, is called "eunuch" by Pythagoreans, but "impotent" by women; for it causes urination and relaxes desire; but it is the best to eat.

§ 2.81  Diphilus says that the lettuce stalk is full of nutriment, and less easy to eliminate than the leaves; but the latter, while more apt to cause flatulence, are even more nutritious and eliminant. In general, however, lettuce is wholesome, cooling, a good regulatory and soporific, juicy, and checks sexual desire. And the more luxuriant plants are more wholesome and more capable of inducing sleep, but the tougher and more flabby are less wholesome and digestible, but they also cause sleep. Dark lettuce is more cooling, and is digestible as well. Lettuce grown in summer is juicier and more filling, while the autumn lettuce lacks nourishment and is less juicy. The stalk of the lettuce is supposed to cure thirst. When lettuce is cooked in a saucepan, like the stalks of kale, it is superior, as Glaucias says, to all the other boiled vegetables. Elsewhere [70a] Theophrastus says that the name epispora ("sown for a second crop") is given to the beet, lettuce, rocket, mustard, sorrel, coriander, anise, and cress. Diphilus declares that, broadly speaking, all green vegetables give little nourishment, produce no fat, are poor in flavour, remain on the surface of the stomach, and are hard to assimilate. "Summer vegetables" is a term used by Epicharmus.

§ 2.82  The artichoke. — This is called kynara by Sophocles in the Colchian Women, but in the Phoenix he has kynaros: "The thorn of the artichoke fills all the glebe." Hecataeus of Miletus, in the Description of Asia (granting that this book is a generous work of the historian, since Callimachus ascribes it to Nesiotes; whoever, then, the author may be), has the following: "Round the Hyrcanian Sea, as it is called, are high mountains covered with forests, and on the mountains grows the prickly artichoke." And continuing: "East of the Parthians live the Chorasmii, possessing plain and mountain alike; and on the mountains are forest trees and the prickly artichoke, the willow, and the tamarisk." He also says that the artichoke grows in the region of the Indus river. Scylax, too (or Polemon), writes: "Now the country is watered by springs and aqueducts, and on the mountains grow artichokes and other herbaceous plants." And in continuation he says: "From that point a high mountain range extends on both sides the Indus river, covered with virgin forest and with the prickly artichoke." But the grammarian Didymus, in expounding the words "prickly artichoke" in Sophocles, says: "Perhaps he means the dog-thorn (wild rose), since that plant is prickly and rough. What is more, the Delphic priestess called it 'wooden-dog,' and when Locrus received an oracle commanding him to build a city wheresoever he should be bitten by a wooden dog, he founded the city in the region where he had scratched his leg on a dog-thorn." Now the dog-thorn is something midway between a shrub and a tree, according to Theophrastus, and its fruit is red, like that of the pomegranate. Its leaf, moreover, is like that of the willow."

§ 2.83  Phaenias, in the fifth book of his work on Plants, speaks of a certain Sicilian plant which he calls cactus, having prickly thorns, and Theophrastus also says in the sixth book of his treatise on Plants: "The cactus, as it is called, occurs only in Sicily, and does not exist in Greece. It sends forth straight from the root stalks which spread on the ground; the leaf is flat and prickly, and what are called cacti are strictly stalks. When the peel is removed they are edible even though slightly bitter, and people preserve them in brine. But there is another kind which sends up an erect stem, called pternix, and this also is edible. And the fruit-vessel, after the downy prickles have been removed, resembles the 'brain' of the palm-tree, and is likewise fit to eat. They call it askaleron ('the head')." Now who, if he accepts this description, would not confidently say that this "cactus" is what the Romans, who live near Sicily, call "cardus," and that it is obviously what the Greeks call kinara? For by a change of only two letters cardus and cactus would be the same word. Epicharmus also plainly indicates to us that the cactus belongs among edible vegetables when he mentions it thus: "Poppy . . . fennel, and rough cactuses to eat among other vegetables." Then he goes on: "If one serves it after seasoning it well, it is a pleasant dish, but alone by itself — away with it!" And again he says: [71a] "Lettuce, palm-buds, squills . . . radishes, cactuses." Still again: "Another, belike, brings from the field fennel and cactuses, spike-lavender, sorrel, silphium-seed, cardoon, chicory, safflower, fern, cactus, and cotton-thistle." And Philetas of Cos: "The cry of the fawn which breathes out its life after defending itself from the sting of a sharp cactus."

§ 2.84  None the less, Sopater of Paphos calls the cactus kinara just as we do. He lived in the time of Alexander, son of Philip, and was still alive in the reign of the second king of Egypt, as he himself makes clear in one of his works. Ptolemy Euergetes, king of Egypt, one of the disciples of the grammarian Aristarchus, has the same word in the second book of his Commentaries: "Near Berenice, in Libya, there is a stream named Lethon, in which are found bass, the gilt-head, and quantities of eels, including the so-called 'regal' eels; these are half as large again as those of Macedonia and the Copaic Lake, and in fact the river throughout its entire course is full of a variety of fish. And in those regions grows an abundance of artichokes, which all the soldiers in our train picked and used as food, and they offered them to us, stripping off the prickles." I also know of an island called Kinaros, mentioned by Semos.

§ 2.85  Palm Tops. — Theophrastus, after speaking of the palm-tree, proceeds: "The process of growing from the fruit, therefore, is as I have described; but there is another method of propagation from the tree itself, by taking off the upper part containing the 'head.'" And Xenophon, in the second book of the Anabasis, writes as follows: "In that place also the soldiers ate for the first time the 'head' of the palm, and all the men wondered at its appearance and peculiar flavour; but it also excited violent headache. And the palm-tree, once the 'head' is taken from it, withers quite away." Nicander in the Georgics: "And at the same time they prune the suckers of the palm and fetch forth the 'head,' a food which the young delight in." And Diphilus of Siphnos records that "palm-heads are filling and contain much nourishment, but they are also heavy and hard to digest, and cause thirst and constipation." "As for us, dear Timocrates (says Athenaeus), it will appear that we have had 'brains' up to the finish if we bring this collection of examples to a close at this point." —

§ 2.86  "It's a big job to be plunged into a family dinner-party, where father will take the cup and lead in the talk; and after words of advice to the young man is in jocose mood; then comes mother after him; then the old aunt mutters some nonsense aside, and a hoarse-voiced old man, the aunt's father; and after him an old woman who calls the youngster 'dearest,' while he nods assent to them all." Thus Menander. And again he says: "They first weave in the purple to make the shadow, and after the purple comes this, which is neither white nor purple, but like a tempered beam of light in the woof." Antiphanes: "What say you? Will you bring me something here to the door to eat? If so, then like the beggars, I will sit on the ground here and eat . . . and everyone will see." The same: "Make ready, then, a cooler, pan, tripod, cup, pot, mortar, three-legged kettle, and a soup-ladle."

§ 3.1   BOOK III. — EPITOME.
[72a] Callimachus the grammarian used to say that a big book is a big nuisance. Egyptian Beans. — Nicander in the Georgics: "Of beans, sow the Egyptian, so that in summer you may make wreaths of its blossoms, but later, when the pods are ripe, you may put the beans lurking therein into the hands of the feasters, even the young men who have long been eager for them. Tubers, also, I boil and serve at the festival banquet." By tubers Nicander means what the Alexandrians call colocasia. As the same author says: "Peeling and shredding the colocasium from its bean." And in Sikyon there is a shrine of Athena Colocasia. But ciborium also means a kind of drinking-cup.

§ 3.2  Theophrastus, in his work on Plants, writes as follows: "In Egypt the bean grows in swamps and marshes. Its maximum length of stalk is four cubits; it is an inch thick, and resembles a pliant, unjointed reed. Inside are separate tubes throughout its length, like a honeycomb. Upon the stalk are the head and blossom, double the size of a poppy; its colour is that of a dark rose. From the stalk grow large leaves, and the root is thicker than the root of the thickest reed, and is made up of distinct tubes, like the stalk. It is eaten boiled, raw, or baked, being used as food by all who live near swamps. It also grows in Syria and Cilicia, but does not come to maturity in those countries. It also occurs in a rather small marsh near Torone, in the Chalcidic peninsula, and here it ripen and produces perfect fruit." [73a] And Diphilus of Siphnos says: "The tuber known as colocasium, belonging to the Egyptian bean, is tasty and nutritious, but hard to digest, being rather astringent; it is better when least woolly in consistency." "The beans," he adds, "which grow in the pods are not easy to digest when green; they have little nutriment, are laxative and very windy, but when dried they cause less flatulence." As a matter of fact, there also grows from the pods a flower used for wreaths. Now the Egyptians call it lotus; but the people of my city Naucratis, says our author, Athenaeus, call it honey-lotus. From it also made honey-lotus crowns, which are very fragrant and cooling in the hot summer season.

§ 3.3  Phylarchus says: "Never before, in any region, had Egyptian beans been sown, or, if they were, did they grow anywhere except in Egypt. But in the reign of Alexander, son of Pyrrhus, it chanced that they sprang up in a swamp near the Thyamis river in Thesprotia, a region of Epeirus. For perhaps two years, then, they bore fruit luxuriantly and spread; but when Alexander stationed a guard over them to see that no one should even approach the spot, to say nothing of gathering them at will, the swamp dried up, and not only did not produce the aforesaid fruit again, but whatever water it had contained never reappeared. The like also occurred in Aedepsus. For, not to mention other waters, a spring came to light which sent forth cold water not far from the sea. The sick who drank of it received the greatest benefit, so that many came even from great distances to use the water. Accordingly the generals of King Antigonus, desiring to be more efficient in collecting revenue, imposed a special tax on all who drank, and as a result the stream dried up. In the Troad, also, all who desired were at liberty in old times to collect salt at Tragasae. But when Lysimachus levied a tax on it, it disappeared. Surprised at this, he exempted the place from taxation, whereupon the salt increased once more."

§ 3.4  The Cucumber. — There is a proverb, "Munch a cucumber, woman, and keep on weaving your cloak." Matron in his Parodies: "And I saw a cucumber, son of glorious Earth, lying among the green vegetables; and it lay outstretched over nine tables." And Laches: "As when a cucumber grows in a watered field." Attic writers, to be sure, make it a trisyllable (sikyos), but Alcaeus, in "may bite some cucumbers," inflects it from the nominative sikys, like stachys, genitive stachyos ("ear of grain"). A skillet, radishes . . . and four cucumbers. The diminutive form sikydion occurs in Phrynichus, The Recluse: "And chew a gherkin."

§ 3.5  Theophrastus says there are three kinds of cucumber, Laconian, club-shaped, and Boeotian. Of these the Laconian grows better if watered, but the others grow without watering. He also says that "cucumbers are more succulent if the seed, before sowing, is soaked in milk or honey-syrup." This he records in his Plant Aetiology. The growth is more rapid, he says, if the seed is soaked in water or milk before it is placed in the ground. Euthydemus, in his work on Vegetables, says that dracontiae, as they are called, are a kind of cucumber; and Demetrius Ixion, in the first book of the Etymologumena, says that the word sikyos comes from seuomai ("burst forth") and kio ("move"); for it is a stimulating plant. But Heracleides of Tarentum, in the Symposium, calls the cucumber hedygaion ("from a sweet soil"). Diocles of Carystus says that if the cucumber is eaten in the first course with marshwort it causes distress, because it is carried on top of the stomach, like the radish; but when eaten last it gives less trouble and is more digestible. When cooked it is also a fairly good diuretic. Diphilus, also, says: "The cucumber, because it is cooling, is hard to digest and to purge from the system; moreover, it causes chilliness, provokes bile, and inhibits coition." Cucumbers grow in gardens when the moon is full, and their growth is as visible as that of sea-urchins.

§ 3.6  Figs. — "The fig-tree," says Magnus, "— for on the subject of figs I will yield to no man, even if I am to be hanged on a fig-branch, I am so extraordinarily fond of them; I will tell what occurs to me — the fig-tree, my friends, was made to be the guide of men to civilization. This is proved by the fact that Athenians call the place where it was discovered Sacred Fig-tree, while they call its fruit the Leader because it was the first cultivated fruit to be discovered. Of figs, however, there are several kinds. There is first the Attic, which Antiphanes mentions in Homonyms; for in praising Attica he says: "A. What products, Hipponicus, our country bears, excelling all in the whole world! Honey, wheat-bread, figs. — B. Figs, to be sure, it bears a-plenty." And Istros in the History of Attica says that it was even forbidden to export figs produced in Attica, in order that the residents alone might enjoy them; and since many were caught in the act of smuggling them across the border, those who gave information to the courts about such persons came to be called, for the first time, sycophantae ("fig-detectives"). And Alexis says in The Poet: "It is not right that the name 'sycophant' [74F] should be bestowed on scoundrels; for the word 'figs,' when applied to a man, ought to reveal a character good and sweet. As it is, when 'sweet' is attached to a rascal, it makes one wonder how this can be." And Philomnestus, in the article On the Sminthian Festival at Rhodes, says: "For the sycophant got his name from the fact that in those days the fines and taxes, [75a] from the proceeds of which they administered public expenditures, consisted of figs, wine, and oil, and they who exacted these tolls or made declaration of them were called, as it appears, 'sycophants,' being selected as the most trustworthy among the citizens."

§ 3.7  A Laconian fig is mentioned in The Farmers by Aristophanes, in these words: "Figs I plant — all kinds but the Laconian. For this one is a foe and given to autocratic ways. It would not be so little, did it not hate the common people violently." He calls it little because the plant does not grow large. And Alexis, speaking of Phrygian figs in The Olynthian, says: "That God-given inheritance of our mother-country, darling of my heart, a dried fig, brought to light from a Phrygian fig-tree." Among many comic poets, also, who mention the early "phibalis" figs, there is in particular Pherecrates, who says in the Good-for-Nothings: "Good Heavens, man! Have a fever without a care; eat some phibalis figs in the hot summer, then go to sleep at mid-day when you are stuffed with them. Have spasms, burn all over, and bawl!" So also Telecleides in The Amphictyons: "How nice, too, are phibalians!" But myrtle-berries are also called phibalian, in The Cretans of Apollophanes: "But first and foremost I want myrtle-berries on the table to chew whenever I have some plan to ponder, the phibalians, I mean, which are very fine, and twined in wreaths." Swallow-figs are also mentioned by Epigenes in The Reveller: "Then, after a little while, comes a platter laden with dried swallow-figs." But Androtion, or Philip, or Hegemon, in The Farmers' Handbook, makes a list of the following kinds of fig-tree: "On level ground should be planted swallow-figs, wild-figs, white-figs, and phibalians; but autumn-queens may be planted anywhere. Every variety has some utility; but the most profitable are the dwarfs, phormynians, double-bearing, Megarian, and Laconian varieties, if they are given water."

§ 3.8  The figs which grow in Rhodes are mentioned by Lynceus in his letters, in which he compares the best products of Attica with those of Rhodes. He writes as follows: "The wild-figs are to the Laconian, in repute, as mulberries to all figs; and I have served these not, as is the custom over there, after dinner, when the taste is perverted by satiety, but when the appetite is unspoiled, before dinner." Yet, if Lynceus had tasted, as I have, the so-called sparrow-figs in our beautiful Rome, he would have proved himself much more sharp-sighted than his namesake, so great is the superiority of these figs over others the whole world around. But there are also other varieties of figs grown near Rome which are held in esteem, to wit, those called Chian and Livian, and further those that go under the name of Chalcidic and African, as Herodotus the Lycian testifies in his treatise on figs.

§ 3.9  Parmenon of Byzantium, lauding in his iambic verse the excellence of the products of Canae, a city in Aeolis, says: [76a] "Far have I journeyed over the sea, bringing no freight of Canaean figs." It is well known that the figs which come from Caunus, in Caria, are also esteemed. The acid or oxalis-figs, so-called, are mentioned by Heracleon of Ephesus and Nicander of Thyateira, who cite the following lines from a play of Apollodorus of Carystus, The Modiste's Dowry: "But the paltry wine was very sour and bad, so that I was ashamed of it; for while other farms produce acid figs, mine even has acid vines." As for the figs on the island of Paros — for there also excellent figs grow, called by the Parians haemonia, being the same as those known as Lydian, and receiving their name from their reddish tint — Archilochus mentions them thus: "Good-bye to Paros with its fine figs and its life by the sea." These figs, in fact, are as different from those produced elsewhere as the meat of the wild boar is superior to all other pork not wild.

§ 3.10  The white-fig is a sort of fig-tree, and it may be that is the kind which produces the white figs. Hermippus mentions it in the Iambics thus: "The dried white-figs separately." Wild figs are mentioned by Euripides in Sciron: "Or impale on branches of wild fig-trees." And Epicharmus in The Sphinx: "But not in any wise like wild figs." Sophocles, in The Marriage of Helen, called the fruit figuratively by the name of the tree, when he said: "A ripe wild-fig thou art, because, though useless for food itself, thou canst impregnate others with thy talk." Now he really says "ripe fig-tree," meaning "ripe fig." Alexis, also, in The Melting-pot: "Why need we say more of those who everywhere offer figs for sale in baskets? They always put the tough and poor ones at the bottom, but the ripe and handsome ones on top. And so the purchaser, believing that what he buys are all good, pays the price, while the dealer snaps the coin in his jaw and sells wild figs, protesting with an oath that they are real figs." Now the wild fig, that is, the tree from which come the erina ("wild-figs"), is erinos, used as a masculine. Thus Strattis in Troilus: "Have you, then, noticed that there is an erinos ('wild fig-tree') near it?" And Homer: "And on it is a tall erineos ('wild fig-tree'), in fullest leaf." Amerias says that runty figs are called erinades.

§ 3.11  Hermonax, in his Cretan Glossary, records the terms hamadea and nikylea as varieties of fig. and Philemon, in the Attic Lexicon, says that certain figs are called "regal," from which arises also the term queen figs, which are dried; he notes further that ripe figs are called kolythra. Seleucus, in the Dialect Dictionary, speaks of a glykysida ("peony"), as it is called, very similar to a fig in shape, and says that women forbear to eat it because it causes unseemly windiness, as the comic poet Plato says in Cleophon. [77a] Pamphilus says that the winter figs are called kodonaea ("bell-figs") by the people of Achaea, saying that Aristophanes makes this statement in his Laconian Glossary. And Hermippus, in Soldiers, transmits the term "crow-figs" for another sort, in these words: "Preferably the phibalian or the crow-figs." Theophrastus, in the second book of his History of Plants, speaks of a certain variety of fig-tree which is like the so-called Aratean. And in the third book he says that in the region of the Trojan Ida there grows a bushy fig-tree with a leaf like that of the linden; it bears red figs of the size of olives, but more round, which are like medlars in taste. Concerning the fig-tree in Crete called Cyprian, the same Theophrastus, in the fourth book of the Plant History, has the following: "The fig-tree which in Crete is called Cyprian bears its fruit on the stem and the stoutest branches, sending out a small leafless shoot like a rootlet, to which the fruit is attached. The stem is large, resembling the white poplar, but the leaf is like that of the elm. It produces four crops, which is also the number of its sproutings. Its sweetness approaches that of the fig, and the inner flesh resembles that of wild-figs; in size it is like a plum."

§ 3.12  The so-called prodromi ("early-figs") are also mentioned by the same Theophrastus in the fifth book of Plant Aetiology as follows: "In the case of the fig-tree, whenever the atmosphere is mild, damp, and warm, it encourages sprouting; from this come the 'early figs.'" Proceeding, he has this to say: "Again, some produce 'early' figs, such as the Laconian, the white-navel, and several other varieties, whereas others do not." And Seleucus, in the Dialect Dictionary, mentions the word proiterike ('early') as applied to a kind of fig-tree, because it bears its fruit early. A double-bearing tree is mentioned by Aristophanes in the Ecclesiazusae: "You, meanwhile, take some leaves of the double-bearing fig-tree." Also Antiphanes in The Women of Tough-Town: "It is down below, right by the double-bearing fig-tree." And Theopompus, in the fifty-fourth book of his Histories, says that in parts of Philip's domain, round about Bisaltia, Amphipolis, and Grastonia, in Macedonia, the fig-trees produce figs, the vines grapes, the olive-trees olives, in the middle of spring, at the time when you would expect them to be just bursting forth, and that Philip was lucky in everything. In the second book concerning Plants Theophrastus says that even the wild-fig bears twice in a season; others say also that it bears three times, as on the island of Ceos.

§ 3.13  Theophrastus also says that if the fig-tree be planted in a squill-bulb it comes into bearing quicker and is not injured by worms; and in fact anything that is planted in squills grows more quickly and has a sturdier growth. Again Theophrastus says, in the second book of Plant Aetiology: "The Indian fig-tree, as it is called, although it is of surprising height, has fruit which is small and meagre, as if it had expended all its nourishment in getting its growth." And in the second book of the History of Plants our authority says: "There is also another variety of fig-tree in Hellas, Cilicia, and Cyprus, with runty fruit, which bears a good fig in front of the leaf, but the runt behind it. Other trees there are also, which in general produce from the last year's growth, and not from the new. And this fig is the first to have ripe, sweet fruit, unlike the runty kinds among us. It also grows to be much larger than other figs, [78a] and its season of maturity is not long after the sprouting." I know, too, of other names currently given to figs: regal, fig-regal, yellow-belly, venison, cake-fig, bitter-fig, wake-robin, dusty-white, dusty-black, fountain-fig, mill-fig, and scallion-fig.

§ 3.14  Speaking of the name given to figs (sykon), Tryphon, in the second book of the History of Plants, says that Androtion, in the Farmers' Handbook, tells the story that Sykeus, one of the Titans, was pursued by Zeus and taken under the protection of his mother, Earth, and that she caused the plant to grow for her son's pleasure; from him also the city of Sykea in Cilicia got its name. But the Epic poet Pherenicus, a Heracleot by birth, declares that the fig was named from Syke, the daughter of Oxylus; for Oxylus, son of Oreius, married his sister Hamadryas and begot, among others, Carya (walnut), Balanus (oak-nut), Craneia (cornel), Morea (mulberry), Aegeirus (poplar), Ptelea (elm), Ampelus (vine), and Syke (fig-tree); and these are called Hamadryad ("tree") nymphs, and from them many trees derive their names. Hence, also, he adds, Hipponax says: "The black fig-tree, sister of the vine." But Sosibius, the Lacedemonian, by way of proving that the fig-tree is a discovery of Dionysus, says that for that reason the Lacedemonians even worship a Dionysus of the Fig. And the Naxians, according to Andriscus and again Aglaosthenes, record that Dionysus is called Meilichius ("gentle") because he bestowed the fruit of the fig. For this reason, also, among the Naxians the face of the god called Dionysus Baccheus is made of the vine, whereas that of Dionysus Meilichius is of fig-wood. For, they say, figs are called meilicha ("mild fruit").

§ 3.15  That figs are more useful to man than all other so-called tree fruits, is sufficiently proved by Herodotus of Lycia by many circumstances in his treatise on figs, and in particular he says that new-born children grow sturdy if nourished with fig-juice. Pherecrates, or whoever is the author of The Persians, says: "If any of us after long search ever spies a fresh fig, we smear it on the babies' eyes," evidently in the belief that figs are an uncommonly good remedy. And the admirable and honey-tongued Herodotus, in the first book of his Histories, says that figs are a great boon. His words are: "O King, thou art making ready to march against men who wear trousers of leather, and the rest of their garments are of leather; they eat, too, food not such as they desire, but such as they have, because they inhabit a land that is rugged; moreover, they use not wine, but are water-drinkers; they have no figs to eat, or any other good thing." Polybius of Megalopolis, also, in the sixteenth book of his Histories, says that at the time "when Philip, the father of Perseus, overran Asia, he was embarrassed for lack of rations for his men, and so he accepted figs from the Magnesians, since they had no grain. When, therefore, he had overmastered Myus, he gave the region to the Magnesians in gratitude for the figs." And Ananius the iambic poet also said: "If one should lock up within the house much gold, a few figs, and two or three men, he would discover how much better than gold figs are."

§ 3.16   [79a] Such was the extent of Magnus's "fig plucking." Then the physician Daphnus said: "Phylotimus, in the third book On Food, says that fresh figs differ considerably in comparison with one another, both as regards varieties, the seasons when they are severally produced, and their effects; but speaking generally, those that are juicy, especially those that are thoroughly ripe, readily dissolve, and are digested more easily than other fruit, and do not hinder the digestion of other food. They also have the effects of moist food in being mucilaginous, sweet, and slightly alkaline, and cause an evacuation which is copious, loose, rapid, and quite painless. They also produce chyle possessing a salty acidity, when taken with salted food. They readily dissolve, as I said, because although we may eat them in large quantities, we soon become very loose. But this would be impossible if these masses remained and were not quickly dissolved. They are digested more easily than other fruit, as is shown by the fact that if we eat many times as many of them as we eat of other fruit we can dispose of them without pain; but what is more significant, if we eat more than the usual amount of other food it gives us no trouble, provided that figs be eaten first. It is clear, therefore, that if we can dispose of both, figs must be digestible themselves and do not hinder the digestion of other food. Their effects, then, are as aforesaid. The mucilaginous and the salty qualities we detect from the fact that they make the hands both sticky and clean, while the sweetness is noticed in the mouth. That they produce evacuation without cramps or disturbance, and more abundant, rapid, and mild, we think needs no further statement. Moreover, they undergo but little change in the process, not because they are hard to digest, but because we take them down quickly with no mastication, and they make the passage quickly. They produce a salty juice because it has been proved that figs possess this sodic element, and they will cause the juice to be more salty or more acid according to the nature of the other liquids drunk with them. For salted foods will increase the saltiness of the juice, whereas vinegar and thyme will increase its acidity."

§ 3.17  Heracleides of Tarentum, in the Symposium, asks whether it is better to take warm or cold water after eating figs. Those, he says, who advocate warm water urge it because they notice the fact that warm water quickly cleanses the hands; hence, they say, it is probable that in the belly also figs are quickly dissolved by warm water. Further, when warm water is poured on figs outside the body it dissolves their substance, and reduces them to small bits, whereas cold water solidifies them. But those who recommend the drinking of cold water argue that "taking a cold drink carries down by its weight the food lodging in the stomach; for figs do not act kindly on the stomach, since they overheat it and reduce its tone; wherefore some persons actually make a practice of drinking unmixed wine with them. After this the contents of the bowels are readily expelled." [80a] One should take full and abundant draughts after eating figs, in order that they may not remain in the stomach, but may be carried to the lower parts of the intestines.

§ 3.18  Other authorities say that figs should not be eaten at noon; for they are likely to bring on illness at that hour, as Pherecrates has said in The Good-for-Nothings. So Aristophanes in The Rehearsal: "Seeing him ill one summer, he ate figs at mid-day, that he, too, might have a pain." And Eubulus in Sphinx- Cario: "Dear Zeus, yes! I was indeed ill, good sir, for the other day I ate some figs at noon." Also Nicophon in The Sirens: "Why, if one of us easts green figs at noon and then takes a nap, straightway there comes on the run a wretched, good-for-nothing fever; then it falls upon us and makes us vomit bile."

§ 3.19  Diphilus of Siphnos says that fresh figs are only slightly nutritious and produce poor chyle, but are easily excreted, remain on the surface of the stomach, and are more readily assimilated than the dry. Those that mature as winter approaches and are ripened by forcing are poorer, whereas those which come at the height of their seasons are better, being ripened naturally. Those with a large proportion of acid, and those which have but little water, are, it is true, better flavoured, but are rather heavy. The figs of Tralles are similar to the Rhodian, but the Chian and all others produce a poorer chyle than they. Mnesitheus of Athens, in his book on Victuals says: "In the case of all such fruits as are eaten raw, like pears, figs, and Delphic apples, et cetera, one should carefully observe the season when the juices contained in them are neither crude nor fermented nor too dried up by over-ripeness." Demetrius of Scepsis, in the fifteenth book of the Trojan Battle-Order, says that those who abstain from eating figs have good voices. At any rate, he says that Hegesianax of Alexandria, the historian, was at first a poverty-stricken actor of tragedies, but afterwards became a skilled actor with a voice of pleasing resonance, having tasted no figs for eighteen years. I also know of proverbs currently said of figs, such as the following: "A fig after the fish, a vegetable after the meat." "Birds like figs, but they will not plant them."

§ 3.20  Apples. — These are called specifically Delphic apples by Mnesitheus of Athens in the work on Victuals. Now Diphilus says that apples, when green and not yet fully ripe, have noxious juices and are bad for the stomach, since they lie on the surface of it; moreover they generate bile, induce disease, and cause chills. Yet, when they are ripe, sweet apples have more wholesome juices and are more easily passed because they have no astringency; but sour apples have juices more unwholesome and binding. Apples which are inferior in sweetness, yet pleasant to eat, are more wholesome because of their moderate astringency. Summer apples have poor juices, but autumn apples are better in this respect. The so-called orbiculata have sweetness joined with a pleasant astringent quality, and are wholesome. The setania, as they are called, and the platania as well, [81a] have a good flavour and are easily passed, but are not wholesome. Those called Mordian grow best in Apollonia, also called Mordium, and resemble the orbiculate. And the Cydonian, some kinds of which are called struthia, are in general the most wholesome of all apples, especially when fully ripe.
Glaucides says that the best of all fruits are quinces, phaulia, and struthia; and Phylotimus, in the third and tenth books on Food, says that early spring apples are much harder to digest than pears, whether we compare green apples with green pears, or ripe apples with ripe pears. Moreover, they have the effects of liquid foods: those that are sour and not quite ripe have a greater astringency and moderate acidity, producing in the body the liquid principle called "astringent." And in general apples are less digestible than pears, as is shown by the fact that though we may eat fewer apples, we digest them less easily, whereas we may take a larger quantity of pears and digest them better. The astringent liquid produced by them, and called by Praxagoras "translucent," is explained by the fact that foods not easily digested have thicker juices; but it has been demonstrated that, in general, apples are less digestible than pears, and that astringent substances are more apt to produce thicker juices. Thus, among winter apples, quinces produce more astringent juices, while struthia, having fewer juices, which therefore are less astringent, can be more readily digested. Nicander of Thyateira says that all quinces are called struthia, but he is mistaken. For Glaucides makes the matter clear when he says that the best fruits are the three, quinces, phaulia, and struthia.

§ 3.21  Now quinces are mentioned by Stesichorus in the Helen in these words: "Many a quince they threw before the throne of the king, many leaves of myrtle and chaplets of roses, and wreaths of violets twined." Alcman, too, speaks of them, and Cantharus, also, in the Tereus: "With quinces as far as the breasts."Philemon is another writer who calls quinces struthia, in The Rustic. Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that quinces by their fragrance can even dull the power of deadly drugs. "At any rate," he says, "when Phariac poison is put into a chest which still smells of the quinces that were stored therein it evanesces, retaining none of its peculiar properties. For when it had been mixed and given to persons against whom this poison had been secretly prepared, it left them quite unharmed. The cause was afterwards discovered on questioning the seller of the drug, who recognized the result as due to storing the quinces with it."

§ 3.22  Hermon, in his Cretan Glossary, says that kodymala is a name for the quinces. But Polemon, in the fifth book of his Answer to Timaeus, maintains that some record the kodymalon as a species of flower. Alcman identifies it with the struthium when he says "smaller than a kodymalon," where Apollodorus and Sosibius understand the quince. But that the quince is different from the struthium [82a] is plainly stated by Theophrastus in the second book of his History. Excellent apples also grow in Sidus (which is a village belonging to Corinth), as Euphorion or Archytas says in The Crane: "Fair as the apple which grows red on the clay slopes of little Sidus." They are mentioned also by Nicander in Things that Change in these words: "Forthwith he cut downy apples from the gardens of Sidus or Pleistus, and carved on them the marks of Cadmus." That Sidus is a village of Corinth is stated by Rhianus in the first book of his Heracleia and by Apollodorus of Athens in the fifth book of the Catalogue of Ships. And Antigonus of Carystus says, in Antipater, "Where my love was, sweeter far than the fair red apples which grow in wind-swept Ephyra."

§ 3.23  Phaulian apples are named by Telecleides in the Amphictyons, as follows: "O ye who are sometimes fine, sometimes fouler than phaulian apples." So Theopompus in Theseus. And Androtion in the Farmers' Handbook says that "apple-trees are phaulian or struthian (the fruit of the latter does not fall off from its stalk), still others are the spring-time apples, either Laconian, or Siduntian, or with downy skins." As for me, dear friends, I hold in greatest esteem the apples sold in Rome and called Matian, which are said to come from a village situated in the Alps, near Aquileia. Not much inferior to these are the apples of Gangra, a city of Paphlagonia. That Dionysus is also the discoverer of the apple is attested by Theocritus of Syracuse, in words something like these: "Storing the apples of Dionysus in the folds at my bosom, and wearing on my head white poplar, sacred bough of Heracles." And Neoptolemus the Parian, in the Dionysiad, records on his own authority that apples as well as all other fruits were discovered by Dionysus. "As for the epimelis, that is a name given to a kind of pear," according to Pamphilus. Apples of the Hesperides is a term recorded by Timachidas in the fourth book of his Banquets. And Pamphilus says that in Lacedemon these are placed on the tables of the gods; fragrant they are, and also not good to eat, and they are called apples of the Hesperides. Aristocrates, to cite another example, in the fourth book of his Spartan History speaks of "apples, too, and apple-trees called Hesperid."

§ 3.24  Peaches. — Theophrastus, in the second book of the History of Plants, discoursing on trees the fruit of which is concealed, writes as follows: "For of all the larger sorts the growth is visible at the beginning, as in the almond, walnut, acorn, and all similar fruits except the Persian nut; here it is by no means true; but again we see it in the pomegranate, pear, and apple-tree." Diphilus of Siphnos, in his work on Food for the Invalid and the Healthy, says: "The so-called Persian apples (by some also called Persian plums) are fairly good in flavour and more nourishing than apples." Phylotimus, in the third book of his work on Food, says that the Persian apple is rather fatty and mealy, also rather spongy, and when put in a press gives out a very large quantity of oil. [83a] Aristophanes the grammarian, in the Laconian Glossary, says that the Lacedemonians call plums "Persian sour apples," being what others call adrya.

§ 3.25  Citrus-fruit (kitrion). — About this much questioning arose among the wiseacres at the table, whether there is any mention of it in the old writers. For Myrtilus sent the anxious seekers of our company as it were among the wild she-goats, by saying that Hegesander of Delphi mentions it in his commentaries, but that he could not for the moment recall his words. In refuting him Plutarch declared: "As for myself, I am sure that Hegesander did not mean the citron at all, for I have read all his commentaries for this express purpose, since another friend of mine insisted, as you have done, that he knows of it, basing his assurance on some scholastic comments of a gentleman of no mean repute; it is, therefore, high time for you, friend Myrtilus, to look for other testimony." Thereupon Aemilianus said that Juba, king of Mauretania and a very learned man, mentions the citron in his History of Libya, asserting that among the Libyans it is called the apple of Hesperia, whence Heracles brought to Greece the apples called, from their colour, golden. As for the so-called apples of the Hesperides, Asclepiades, in the sixtieth book of his Egyptian History, says that Earth brought them forth in honour of the "nuptials," as it was called, of Zeus and Hera. Whereupon Democritus, with a shrewd glance at them, said: "If Juba records anything of the sort, then renounce him and all his works, his Libyan history and his wanderings of Hanno as well. I maintain that the word 'citron' is not found in ancient writers, but the thing itself is described by Theophrastus of Eresus in his History of Plants in such a way that I am forced to understand his description as referring to the citron.

§ 3.26  For the philosopher, in the fourth book of his History of Plants, has this to say: 'Among many other products of the land of Media and Persia there is in particular the so-called Persian or Median apple. This tree has a leaf similar and pretty nearly equal in size to that of the wild-strawberry-tree and the walnut, and it has spines like the wild pear or white-thorn, but smooth and very sharp and strong. While the fruit is not eaten, it is very fragrant itself, and so also are the leaves of the tree; and if the fruit be placed among garments, it keeps them free of moths. It is also useful when one has by chance drunk a deadly poison (for as a dose in wine it upsets the stomach and brings up the poison), and it also sweetens the breath; for if the pulp of the fruit be cooked in broth or anything else, or squeezed and sucked into the mouth, it makes the breath sweet. The seed is taken out and sown in springtime in beds which have been carefully prepared; it is then watered every three or four days; when the plant is well up, it is transplanted in the spring to soft, moist ground not too thin-soiled. It bears its fruit at all seasons; for when some have been plucked, others are in blossom, and others again are ripening. Those blossoms which have a kind of distaff projecting from the centre are fertile, but those which have none are infertile.' Again, in the first book of the same work, he gives the facts about the distaff and the fertile blossoms. Impelled, therefore, my friends, by this description which Theophrastus gives of the colour, fragrance, and leaves, I am convinced that the citron is meant; and let none of you be surprised that he says it is not eaten, because even down to our grandfathers' time no one would eat it, [84a] but they laid it away like some precious heirloom in their chests along with the clothes.

§ 3.27  "Now, that this plant really came into Greece from the inland region of Asia may be found mentioned in the poets of comedy; speaking of their size, it is plain that they have the citron in mind. Thus Antiphanes, in The Boeotian Woman: 'A. It is silly even to mention a dainty tid-bit to persons who are virtually insatiable. However, take these apples, my girl. — B. They are fine, indeed. — A. Fine? Ye gods, I should say so! For the seed of this fruit has only just arrived in Athens from the great king. — B. I thought, by the Goddess of Light, you were going to say these golden apples came from the Hesperides, since there are only three of them. — A. The fair is rare always, and everywhere dear.' And Eriphus in the Meliboea, after prefixing these very iambics of Antiphanes as though they were his own, continues: 'B. I thought, by Artemis, you were going to say these golden apples came from the Hesperides, since there are only three. — A. The fair is rare always, and everywhere dear. — B. I'll give an obol for them, at the most. For I will count the cost. — A. And here are pomegranates. — B. How nice they are! — A. Ay, for they say this was the one and only tree that Aphrodite planted in Cyprus. — B. Worshipful Berbeia! And so you brought with you only those three? — A. Yes, for I could get no more.'

§ 3.28  "If to this anyone objects that what is today called a citron is not meant here, let plainer testimony be cited, although Phaenias of Eresus offers us the suggestion that possibly the juniper-berry (kedron) is intended, from kedros ("cedar"). For the cedar, he says, in the fifth book on Plants, also has spines round the leaves. But that this is also true of the citron is known to all. "I am well aware, too, that when the citron is eaten before any food, dry or liquid, it is an antidote to every poisonous ingredient; I learned this from a townsman of mine who was entrusted with the governorship of Egypt. He had sentenced some convicted criminals to be the prey of wild beasts, and they were to be thrown among the creatures called asps. As they were entering the theatre assigned for the punishment of the robbers, a peddler-woman in the street gave them in pity some of the citron which she was holding in both hands and which she was eating. They took it and ate, and when, after a short time, they were thrown among those cruel and monstrous creatures, the asps, they received no injury when bitten. Perplexity seized the magistrate, and finally he questioned the soldier who guarded them to see whether they had eaten or drunk anything; when he learned that the citron had been given them, he ordered next day that a piece of citron should be given, exactly as before, to one convict, but not to the other, and the one who ate suffered no injury when bitten by the reptiles, but the other died the moment he was struck. And so, since the same result has been attested in many instances, the citron has been proved to be an antidote to every poison. [85a] Again, if one boil a whole citron in its natural state, seeds and all, in some Attic honey, it is dissolved in the honey, and anyone who takes two or three 'fingers' of it in the morning will not be harmed in any way by poison.

§ 3.29  If one doubts this, let him learn also from Theopompus of Chios, a man devoted to the truth, who has spent much money in the accurate investigation of history. He, namely, in his account of Clearchus, tyrant of Heraclea in Pontus, contained in the thirty-eighth book of his Histories, tells how he forcibly put to death many persons, giving most of them aconite to drink. 'When then,' he says, 'all had come to know this poisonous loving-cup of his, they never went out of doors without eating rue; for those who eat this beforehand are not in the least injured by drinking aconite, which, he says, received its name because it grew in a place called Aconae, near Heracleia.'" When Democritus had ended these remarks, most of the company expressed their wonder at the effects of the citron, and ate it up as though they had not touched any food or drink before. Pamphilus, in the Dialect Dictionary, says that the Romans call it citrus.

§ 3.30  [85c] Following the dishes just described, there were brought in for us separately plates of oysters in quantity, as well as other testaceous foods. Most of them, practically, I find have been thought worthy of mention by Epicharmus in the Marriage of Hebe: "He brings all sorts of shell-fish — limpets, lobsters, crabs, owl-fish, whelks . . . [85d] barnacles, purple-shells, oysters tight-closed (to open them is no easy matter, but to eat them is easy enough), mussels, snails, periwinkles, and suckers (which are sweet to eat forthwith, but too acrid when preserved), and the long, round razor-fish; also the blackshell, to gather which brings fair profit to children; and on the other side are land-snails and sand-snails, which are held in poor esteem and are cheap, and which all mortals callandrophyctides ('man-shy'), but we gods call whites."

§ 3.31  But in the Muses, instead of the line "the shell, to gather which brings fair profit to children," is written "the shell which we call tellis ('long mussel'); and its meat is very pleasant." In what he says of the telline he probably means what the Romans call mitulus("mussel"). Aristophanes the grammarian, who mentions it in the tract on The Broken Scroll, says that limpets are similar to the so-called tellinae, and Callias of Mitylene, on the word limpet in Alcaeus, says that there is an ode in the collection of Alcaeus's works which begins, "Child of the rocks and of the hoary sea," and at the end of it is written: "Limpet of the sea, swell the hearts of children." But Aristophanes writes "tortoise" in place of "limpet," and declares that Dicaearchus was mistaken in accepting "limpets" here; he adds that when children put them to their mouths, they blow into them like pipes and play tunes with them, precisely as our idle gamins play upon what we call tellinae ("sea-snails"). [86a] So also Sopater, the writer of farces, says in the play entitled Eubulus the God-man: "But stay! for suddenly a melodious sound from a sea-snail has come to my ears." And again Epicharmus, in Pyrrha and Prometheus, says: "See now the sea-snail and the nereid, and how big the limpet is!" In Sophron conchs are called melaenides ("black-shells"): "For melaenides, you may be sure, will come to me from the little harbour." But in the mime entitled Fisher and Farmer he calls them cherambae. Archilochus also mentions the cherambe, Ibycus, the nereid. The nereid (anarites) is also called anartas. The oyster, being a mollusk, clings to rocks like the limpet. And Herondas, in Women at work together, has "clinging like an anarites ('nereid') to the reefs." So Aeschylus, in the Persians, has the phrase "islands where the nereids feed." Homer mentions tethea.

§ 3.32  Diocles of Carystus, in his Hygiene, says that the best shell-fish, for digestion and for the kidneys, are mussels, oysters, scallops, and cockles. And Archippus in The Fishes has "with limpet, sea-urchins, eschars, garfish, and scallops." Of shell-fish the kinds more conducive to strength, Diocles says, are snails, purple-shells, and periwinkles. Concerning the last Archippus has the following: "Periwinkle, nursling of the sea, son of purple-shell." Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, says that periwinkles, purple-shell, twisted snails, and conchs resemble each other. The twisted snails are mentioned also by Sophocles in the Camicians thus: "Of this twisted snail from the sea — if, my child, we could find someone [to string it]." Again, Speusippus enumerates in order the conchs, scallops, mussels, pinnas, and razor-fish, by themselves, and in another class, the oysters and limpets. And Araros, in The Hunchback, says: "These, then, were the tasty dainties — snails and razor-fish, and the wriggling shrimps leaped forth like dolphins." Sophron in the Mimes: "A. What in the world, my dear, are those long cylinders? — B. They are razor-fish, to be sure, a sweet-meated shell-fish, which many widowed women eagerly desire." The pinna is mentioned by Cratinus in the Archilochi (Satirists): "This, to be sure, is like a pinna or an oyster." Philyllius (or it may be Eunicus or Aristophanes), in the Island-Towns, says: "A tiny polyp and a squid, a crayfish, lobster, oyster, cockles, limpets, razor-fish, mussels, pinnas, scallops from Mitylene; bring small fry — red mullet, sargue, grey mullet, sea-perch, crow-fish." Agias and Dercylus, in the History of Argolis, call the twisted snails astrabeli, and mention them for their usefulness in blowing as horns.

§ 3.33  The word conch may be found either as a feminine or a masculine. Aristophanes in the Babylonians: "Every one of them began to open his mouth wide, [87a] like conchs (conchae) baking on the coals." And Telecleides, in the Hesiods, has "a conch (concha) to crack." So, too, Sophron in Mimes of Women: "Why! all the conchs, as at a single command, open wide for us, and the flesh of each one pokes out." But Aeschylus has it masculine in the Sea Glaucus: "conchs (conchi), mussels, and oysters." Aristonymus in Theseus, in the same gender: "There was a conch (conchus) like soused pipe-mussels." In the same way Phrynichus also uses the word in the Satyrs. Hicesius, the disciple of Erasistratus, says that some cockles are called rough, others are called regal. The rough are also of poor flavour and afford little nourishment, but are easily passed; purple-fishers use them also for bait; of the smooth varieties, on the other hand, their excellence increases with their size. Hegesander, in the Commentaries, says that the rough-shelled conchs are called "sacks" by the Macedonians, but "rams" by the Athenians.

§ 3.34  Hicesius further says that limpets are most easily digested of all the varieties of sea-food mentioned above; oysters are less nourishing than they, but are filling and rather easy to digest. "Scallops are more nourishing, but have not so good a flavour and are harder to digest. As for mussels, those from Ephesus and similar kinds are better in flavour than scallops, but are inferior to cockles; they tend to cause urination rather than loosening of the bowels. Some of them, also, are like squills, with poor flavour, and uninviting to the taste. The smaller kinds among them, and those that are rough outside, are more diuretic and better flavoured than the squill-like, but are less nourishing, partly because of their small size, and partly because of their nature. The 'necks' of the periwinkle are wholesome, but contain less nutriment than mussels, cockles, and scallops; for persons with weak stomachs, who do not easily work off their food into the abdominal tract, they are useful, not being liable to fermentation. This is because foods admittedly easy to digest are, by a reverse process, alien to a constitution of this sort, since their tenderness and solubility make their fermentation easy. Hence the 'livers' of these testacea, while not good for stomachs in good condition, are beneficial for weakness in the bowels. More nourishing and more enjoyable than these are the 'livers' of purple-shells, but they are more quill-like in effect; in fact the whole of the bivalve has this character. A peculiarity also attendant upon them, and upon the razor-fish as well, is that they thicken the broth in which they are cooked. But even when the 'necks' of purple-shells are cooked by themselves, they are good for stomach affections." Poseidippus mentions them in the Locrian Women thus: "'Tis time to conclude; eels, crayfish, conchs, sea-urchins freshly caught, livers, pinnas, necks, mussels."

§ 3.35  The larger barnacles are easy to digest and have a good flavour. But ear-mussels, found on the island called Pharos, opposite Alexandria, are more nourishing than all the aforesaid kinds, though they are not so digestible. [88a] Antigonus of Carystus, in his treatise on Diction, says that this shell-fish is called "Aphrodite's ear" by the Aeolians. The "borers" are more nourishing, but have a rank smell. The tethea are similar to those just mentioned, and more nourishing. There occur also the so-called wild mollusks; these are filling, but have a rank smell and are poor in flavour. Aristotle, in the Zoology, says "the testacea comprise the pinna, oyster, mussel, scallop, razor-fish, conch, limpet, ascidium, and barnacle. Those that have locomotion are the periwinkle, purple-shell, sweet purple-shell, sea-urchin, and twisted snail. Further, the scallop has a rough shell, striated, while the ascidium is not striated, but smooth-shelled; the pinna has a small mouth, while the oyster is wide-mouthed, a rough-shelled bivalve; but the limpet is a univalve and smooth-shelled; the shell of the mussel is composed of two parts exactly alike, while that of the razor-fish and the barnacle is single and smooth; that of the conch partakes of the nature of both." The inside of the pinna, as Epaenetus says in the Art of Cookery, is called the "liver." In the fifth book of his History of Animals, Aristotle says: "Purple-shells spawn in springtime, periwinkles as winter draws to a close. In general (he says) the testacea appear to have what are called eggs in the spring and even in the autumn, excepting the edible urchins. The last propagate most at these seasons, but also continually at all times, and rather more at the full moon and on sunny days, excepting those in the Pyrrhaean Euripus; the others, however, are better in winter; they are small and full of eggs. It appears also that all sea-snails spawn alike at the same season."

§ 3.36  Proceeding, the philosopher says again: "So the purple-shells swarm in spring in the same place and produce what is termed the honeycomb. This is a kind of wax, though not so smooth, as if a large mass from the husks of white pulse were solidified. None of them has any vent, nor do purple-shells propagate from this, but they and all other testacea spring from slime and decomposition. This is a sort of excretion which occurs in them and in the periwinkles; for the latter also produce the waxy substance. They begin the process by excreting a sticky pulp, of which the husk-like parts are composed. After this is completely discharged, they let out a watery substance into the earth; here then, in the earth, are formed little purple-shells, which the adults are found to contain when caught. and if they are caught before hatching occurs, they sometimes bring forth the young in the fishermen's baskets, collecting in the same spot, and a kind of cluster is formed. There are several varieties of purple-shell; some are large, like those of Sigeium and Lectum, while others are small, as in the Euripus and on the coast of Caria. Further, those which are found in bays are large and rough, [89a] and have in most cases a dark dye; but some also have a little red. Some of the large specimens weigh as much as a pound. Those which are found on the shore and off headlands are small in size, but contain the red dye. Again, on shore facing the north they are generally dark-dyed, whereas on south shores they are red."

§ 3.37  Apollodorus of Athens, in his Commentary on Sophron, after prefixing the lemma "greedier than purple-shells," explains that it is a proverb, and says that according to some authorities it is derived from the dye; for whatever it touches it draws to itself, and produces the glint of its own colour in whatever is placed beside it. But others refer it to the animal itself. "And they are caught," says Aristotle, "in the spring, but never in the season of the Dog-star; for they do not feed at that time, but hide themselves and live in holes. The dye is contained between the liver and the neck." "And the purple-shell as well as the periwinkle has from germination the same kind of operculum which other spiral mollusks have. They feed by thrusting out the 'tongue,' as it is called, beneath the operculum. The purple-shell has a 'tongue' more than an inch long, by which it feeds and bores through other shell-fish as well as its own shell. Both purple-shell and periwinkle have long lives, extending to about six years. Their growth may be discerned by the coil in the shell. Conchs, cockles, razor-fish, and scallops are produced in sandy places."

§ 3.38  "Pinnas grow in an upright position from the sea bottom, and contain the 'pinna's guard,' [89d] which may be a small prawn or a small crab. If these are taken away, they quickly die." Pamphilus of Alexandria, in his work on Names, says this parasite is born with them. And Chrysippus of Soli, in the fifth book on Pleasure and the Good, says: "The pinna and its guard co-operate with each other, and they cannot live separately. Now the pinna is a shell-fish, but the its parasite is a small crab. The pinna opens its shell and quietly waits for small fish to approach, while the parasite stands by and bites it as a signal when anything comes near; the pinna feels the bite and closes, and in this way they eat up together whatever is caught inside." Some authorities also say that they are procreated together, and as it were from the same seed. Aristotle, again, says: "All testacea grow in slimy matter, oysters in mud, but conchs and the others described in sand, while ascidia, barnacles, and those that cling to surfaces, like limpets and nereid snails, grow in the hollows of the rocks."

§ 3.39  "Creatures which have no shells, like the actinia and the sponges, grow in the same way as testacea, in hollows of the rocks. There are two classes of actinia; one class, formed in cavities, never separate from the rocks; the other, living in smooth and level places, let go their hold and move about." Eupolis, in the Autolycus, calls the actinia nettles, [90a] and so does Aristophanes in the Phoenician Women: "Grasp the fact, that first of all spike-lavender came into being, and after that the rock-nettles." He mentions them also in the Wasps. Pherecrates in the Deserters: "To wear a crown of nettles for an equal length of time." The physician Diphilus of Siphnos says: "The nettle eases the bowels, is a diuretic, and generally wholesome; but it causes the itch in those who gather them unless they first smear themselves with oil." As a matter of fact, it does injury to those who gather them, and by them is today called nettle by a slight alteration of words. (Possibly the plant nettle gets its name from it.) By a euphemism, i.e. substitution, it is so called; for it is not gentle and quiet to the touch, but rough and disagreeable. The marine nettle, to be sure, is mentioned by Philippides in the Amphiaraus thus: "Oysters, nettles, and limpets he served to me." But there is a play on the word in the Lysistrata of Aristophanes: "Nay, thou bravest daughter of ascidian grandmothers and motherkins who were nettles." For tethea (ascidia) are shell-fish, but there is also a comic mixing with tethe, "grandmother," and with "mother."

§ 3.40  Concerning other shell-fish Diphilus has this to say: "The rough-shelled cockles of the smaller sorts, having flesh of tenuous consistency, are called oysters, and are wholesome and digestible; but the smooth kinds, by some called regal, also giant, while nourishing, are hard to digest; they are well-flavoured and wholesome, more especially the larger ones. Tellinae are found at Canobus in large numbers and are abundant about the time when the Nile is rising. Of these the regal are more tender and light, and promote digestion; moreover they are nourishing. The river varieties are sweeter. Mussels are moderately nourishing; they promote digestion and are diuretic. The best are the Ephesian, especially when taken in the autumn. The myiscae are smaller than mussels proper, but are sweet and well-flavoured and are nourishing besides. Razor-fish, so named by some, but by others pipes, reeds, or finger-nails, contain much liquid of poor flavour and sticky. The males among them are striated and not of one colour; they are good for patients who suffer from stone or a stricture of any kind. But the females are of one colour and are sweeter. They are eaten boiled or fried, but those that are baked on coals until the shells open are better." "Solenists" ("razor-fish catchers") was the name given to the men who gather these shell-fish, as Phaenias of Eresus records in the book entitled Tyrants killed in Revenge. He writes as follows: "Philoxenus, surnamed the Solenist, rose from the position of demagogue to that of tyrant. At first he got his living as a fisherman and was a catcher of razor-fish; but having got together some capital he won a competence by trade on a larger scale."
"Of the scallops the white varieties are tenderer; for they are free from odour and good for the bowels. Of the dark or reddish varieties the larger and fleshy specimens have a fine flavour. In general, they are all wholesome, easily digested, and good for the bowels, when eaten with cummin and pepper." Archippus mentions them in The Fishes: "With limpets, sea-urchins, eschars, garfish, and scallops." [91a] "And the barnacles, which take their name from their likeness to the acorns on oaks, differ according to locality. For the Egyptian are sweet, tender, well-flavoured, nourishing, have abundant liquor, and are diuretic and good for the bowels; but others are too salty. Ear-mussels are hard to digest, although more nourishing when fried. 'Borers' have a good flavour but a bad smell and liquor.

§ 3.41  Urchins are tender, juicy, of high odour, filling, and easily digested; again, when eaten in sweet pickle, with parsley and mint, they are wholesome, sweet, and well-flavoured. Those which have a red or quince colour and are fatter are pleasanter to eat, as well as those which, when the meat is scraped, exude a milky liquor. Those which occur in Cephallenia and Icaria and the Adriatic . . . are in some cases rather bitter; those, again, which are found on the Sicilian cliff are laxative." Aristotle says that there are several kinds of urchins; one is the edible kind, in which are found the so-called eggs, and there are two others, heart-urchins and brysi, as they are called. Sophron mentions heart-urchins, and so does Aristophanes in The Merchantmen, thus: "Biting, pulling to pieces, and licking my urchin down below." Epicharmus, also, in The Marriage of Hebe says of the urchins: "Crabs have come, and sea-urchins, too, which know not how to swim over the briny sea, but alone of all creatures navigate on foot." Demetrius of Scepsis, in the twenty-sixth book of The Trojan Battle-Order, says that a Spartan was once invited to a feast where sea-urchins were served on his table; he grasped one, but not knowing how to deal with the viand, and not even observing how his convives disposed of it, he put it into his mouth, shell and all, and tried to crack the urchin with his teeth. Since he had a hard time with the bite and did not comprehend what its rough resistance meant he cried, "You rascally morsel, I won't be soft and let you go now, nor will I ever again take another." Now the urchins, I mean both terrestrial and marine, guard themselves against the fishers by projecting their spines like a fence of palings. This is attested by Ion of Chios, who says, in The Phoenician (or Caeneus): "But among land animals I like the ways of the lion rather than the miserable arts of the urchin (hedgehog), which, when it perceives the hostile approach of others stronger than itself, winds its spiny body in a ball and lies still, invincible against bite and touch."

§ 3.42  "Of the limpet," says Diphilus, "some are small and some also resemble oysters. They are tough, with little juice, not very pungent, of good flavour and easily digested; when boiled, too, they are tolerably well-flavoured. Pinnas are diuretic and filling, but hard to digest and assimilate. The periwinkles resemble them; for their necks are wholesome, but not readily digested. Hence for patients with weak stomachs they are proper food; but they are hard to pass, and moderately filling. The 'livers' ('poppies,' so-called) are tender at the base and digestible. Hence they are fit for those who suffer from abdominal weakness. The purple-shells stand midway between the pinna and the periwinkle; for their necks have much liquor and a good flavour, while the remaining part of them is salty and sweet, readily assimilated, and good for modifying the humours. Oysters are reproduced in rivers, lagoons, and the sea. [92a] But sea oysters are the best, when a lagoon or a river is near. For then they have a good liquor, and are larger and sweeter. Those which are found on beaches or rocks and are untouched by slime or fresh water are small, tough, and biting to the tongue. The spring shell-fish, and those which come at the beginning of summer, are superior, being plump and having a sea flavour mixed with sweetness; they are wholesome and digestible. Cooked with mallow or sorrel or fish, or even alone, they are nourishing and good for the bowels."

§ 3.43  Mnesitheus of Athens, in his work on Victuals, says: "Oysters, cockles, mussels, and the like, contain a meat not easily digested on account of the salty liquor which they contain. Hence when eaten raw they draw down the bowels by their saltiness, whereas when cooked they lose all or most of their salt in the liquor in which they are cooked. Hence, also, the liquids in which any shell-fish are cooked stir and move the bowels, but the meat of cooked shell-fish causes rumblings when it has lost its moisture. But baked shell-fish, provided the baking be done with skill, have the least harmful effect on account of the action of the heat. Consequently they are not as indigestible as the raw, having all the liquids which disturb the bowels thoroughly dried up. And so the nourishment afforded by all shell-fish is liquid and hard to digest, and at the same time is not conducive to urination. But the nettle, the urchin's eggs, and similar food afford a nourishment which, though the liquid is slight, tends to relax the bowels and stimulate the kidneys."

§ 3.44  Nicander of Colophon in the Georgics makes this catalogue of the testacea: "And all the shell-fish which feed at the bottom of the ocean — sea snails, conchs, giant clams, and mussels, slimy offspring of Halosdyne — and the hiding-place of the pinna itself." And Archestratus also has a list in his Gastronomy: "Aenus produces large mussels, Abydus oysters, Parium crabs, and Mitylene scallops. Ambracia, too, supplies very many, and along with them monstrous . . . and in Messene's narrow frith thou shalt get giant whelks, in Ephesus also the smooth cockles, not to be despised. Calchedon gives oysters, but as for periwinkles ('heralds') may Zeus confound them, whether they come from the sea or the assembly, excepting one man only. That man is my comrade, his home is in Lesbos of the luscious grapes, and his name is Agathon." Philyllius — or whoever is the author of The Island-Towns — has "cockles, limpets, razor-fish, mussels, pinnas, Methymne scallops." The early writers used only the form ostreia for oysters. Cratinus in The Archilochi (Satirists), "like pinnas and ostreia." So Epicharmus in The Marriage of Hebe has "ostreia clinging together." But Plato in the Phaedrus has ostreon like orneon ("bird"): "held imprisoned like an oyster"; and again in the Timaeus: "the entire family of ostrea"; on the other hand, in the tenth book of the Republic he has: "ostreia and sea-weed cling to him." The giant whelks received their name from the word pelorion, "monstrous." For the creature is larger than the ordinary cockle, in fact, it is of extraordinary size. [93a] Aristotle says they occur in the sand, and Ion of Chios mentions them in his Sojournings. Perhaps these conchs derive their name (chema) from cechena, meaning "to yawn."

§ 3.45  Concerning the mollusks which are found in India, since the vogue of pearls makes it appropriate to include them in our mention, Theophrastus writes as follows in his work on Stones: "Among stones which are much admired is the so-called margarites, or pearl, of translucent quality; with it are made the costliest necklaces. It occurs in a shell-fish similar to the pinna, but smaller, and its size is that of a large fish eye." Androsthenes, also, in the Voyage round India, writes as follows: "The varieties of spiral shell-fish, sea-mussels, and other cockles are numerous, and they differ greatly from those we know at home. Purple-shells, and a vast number of other shell-fish as well, occur there. One in particular, which the natives call berberi, or mother-of-pearl, is that from which the pearl comes. This is of high value in Asia Minor, and in Persia and Upper Asia is sold for its weight in gold. This mollusk looks like the scallop; its shell, however, is not grooved, but is smooth and thick; unlike the scallop, moreover, it has but one auricula, not two. The jewel occurs in the flesh of the mollusk, like the tubercle in swine, and is sometimes so very golden in appearance that when placed side by side with gold it cannot be readily distinguished from it; sometimes, again, it is silvery, and sometimes perfectly white, resembling the eye of a fish." And Chares of Mitylene says, in the seventh part of his Tales of Alexander: "A creature similar to the oyster is caught in the Indian Sea, likewise also in the waters adjacent to Armenia, Persia, Susa, and Babylon; it is of considerable size and oblong, and contains within it a flesh which is plump and white and very fragrant. From it they extract white bones which they call pearls, from which they make necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. The Persians, Medes, and in fact all Asiatics value them far more than articles made of gold."

§ 3.46  Isidorus of Charax, in his Description of Parthia, says that there is an island in the Persian Gulf where pearls are found in abundance; wherefore the island is surrounded with bamboo rafts from which the natives dive in twenty fathoms of water and bring up bivalves. They say that the mollusk is most apt to teem with pearls when thunderstorms and downpourings of rain are frequent, and the pearls found then are most numerous and of good size. In winter the mollusks have a habit of entering recesses at the bottom of the ocean; but in summer they swim about, with shells open at night but closed by day. Those which cling to rocks or cliffs send forth roots and remain there while they produce the pearls. These are kept alive and nourished through the part which adheres to the flesh, and this part, which grows at the mouth of the shell, has tentacles and introduces the food. It is, in fact, similar to a little crab, and is called pinna-guard ("hermit-crab"). From this opening the flesh projects to the middle of the shell, like a root, and on this the pearl is propagated, and it grows on the tough part of the shell, receiving food so long as the oyster clings to the rock.
[94a] As growth proceeds, the flesh rises under it and gradually forces its way between so as to separate the pearl from the shell, until it envelops the pearl entirely and ceases to nourish it, making it smoother and more glistening and pure. Now the purest pearls, those which are most lustrous and large, are produced in the pinna which remains on the ocean bottom, whereas the pinna which grows at the surface, emerging about the water and receiving the direct rays of the sun, is of inferior colour and of less value. Pearl-fishers run risks when they put their hands straight into an open shell; for in that case it closes up, and often severs the fingers; some even die on the spot. But if they succeeded in getting the hand under the shell sideways, they can easily tear it from the rock. Smaragdi are mentioned by Menander in The Slave: "These should be an emerald and carnelians." The word should be pronounced without an s, because it is derived from marmairo ("sparkle"), with reference to its lustre.

§ 3.47   [94c] Following these viands platters were passed round containing many kinds of meat prepared with water, — feet, heads, ears, jawbones, beside guts, tripe, and tongues, in accordance with the custom in shops at Alexandria called "boiled-meat shops." "This word, Ulpian, is found in Poseidippus, in The Slave." And while the company were further inquiring for authors who had named any of these foods, one of them said: "The edible tripes are mentioned by Aristophanes in The Knights, 'I will declare that you are selling tripe untithed.' And again he says: 'Why, good sir, won't you let me wash the tripe and sell my sausages instead of laughing at me?' Still again: 'I'll gulp down a beef-gut and a pig's tripe, then drink up the broth, and without stopping to wipe my mouth I'll outbawl the orators and confound Nicias.' Again: 'Ay, the daughter of a mighty sire gave me a piece of meat cooked in broth, and a slice of guts, of tripe, and of belly.' Cratinus mentions the jawbone in The Plutuses: 'fighting for the jawbone of an ox.' And Sophocles in the Amycus says, 'makes jawbones soft.' Plato, in the Timaeus, writes: 'He (God) also joined together the ends of their jawbones under the conformation of the face.' And Xenophon, in the Art of Horsemanship mentions 'a small, contracted jaw.' Some pronounce the word with a u (suagon) by analogy with the word for swine (sus)." Epicharmus mentions sausages, calling them oryae, a name by which he even entitles one of his plays, the Orya. Aristophanes says in the Clouds: "Let them make sausages of me and serve me up to the students." Cratinus in the Wine-flask: "How thin, said he, is this slice of sausage!" So Eupolis in the Goats. And Alexis in Leucadia, or The Runaways: [95a] "A slice of sausage has arrived, and some mincemeat." Antiphanes in the Nuptials: "Cutting out the middle slice of a sausage."

§ 3.48  Feet, ears, and the snout are mentioned by Alexis in Crateia, or The Apothecary; his testimony I will quote a little later, since it contains many of the terms under discussion. Theophilus in the Pancration-Fighter: "A. Of boiled dishes there are nearly three pounds' weight. — B. Tell us more! — A. A snout, a ham, four pigs' feet. — B. Heracles! — A. and three ox-feet."
Anaxilas in The Caterers: "A. More satisfactory to me by far than verses from Aeschylus is baking fish. — B. What's that you say, fish? You mean to make your messmates sick. How much better to boil trotters . . . snouts and feet." And Anaxilas in Circe: "Having the snout of a pig, dear Cinesias; it was awful!" And in Calypso: "I realized then that I bore a pig's snout." Ears are mentioned by Anaxandrides in his Satyrias, and Axionicus in The Chalcidian says: "I am preparing a stew by warming over a fish until it is hot, putting in morsels that have been left over and moistening them with wine, slashing in some entrails seasoned with salt and silphium, a slice of sausage, and a bit of tripe, with a snout well soused in vinegar; and so you will all agree that the next morning's fare is better than that at the wedding the night before." Aristophanes in The Rehearsal: "Alack, I have tasted the entrails of my children; how shall I look upon that scorched snout?" And Pherecrates in Frills: "For is not this simply a swine's snout?" There is also a place called by this name, Rhynchus (Beak), near Stratus in Aitolia, according to Polybius in the sixth book of the Histories. And Stesichorus, in the Boar Hunters, has: "to hide the tip of the snout underground." That the word "snout" is properly applied only to swine has already been explained; but that it may be applied also to other animals, and even be used jocosely of the human face, is shown by Archippus in the second edition of Amphitryo: "Although he has a snout so long." So Araros, in Adonis: "For the god is turning his snout toward us."

§ 3.49  The word acrocolia ("trotters") is used by Aristophanes in the Aiolosikon: "And what is more — for I had almost forgotten it — I boiled four trotters for you until they were tender." And in the Gerytades: "Trotters, wheat loaves, and crayfish." Antiphanes in The Woman of Corinth: "A. And then a pig's foot to Aphrodite? Ridiculous! — B. But you don't know. In Cyprus, my master, the goddess takes such delight in swine that she keeps the beast from feeding on dung, but has forced that job upon the oxen." As a matter of fact Callimachus (or Zenodotus), [96a] in Historical Notes, testifies that the pig is sacrificed to Aphrodite, in these words: "The people of Argos sacrifice swine to Aphrodite, and the festival is called the Hysteria (feast of swine)."
Pherecrates, in The Miners, has these lines: "There were close at hand, on platters, whole hams with shin and all, most tender, and trotters well boiled." Alexis in The Dicers: "After we had just finished a luncheon from a bit of trotter." So too, in The Vigil (or Toilers): "The meat is only half-done, the mincemeat is spoiled, the eel is boiled, but the trotters are not yet ready."
Pherecrates mentions boiled feet in The Slave-Teacher: A. "Tell us how the dinner is progressing. — B. Well then, you are to have a piece of eel, a squid, some lamb, a slice of sausage, a boiled foot, a liver, a rib, a vast number of birds, cheese with honey sauce, and a portion of beef." Antiphanes in The Parasite: "A. There are smoked pigs' knuckles. — B. A nice luncheon, by the goddess of home! — A. Yes, and a lot of melted cheese was sizzling over them." Ecphantides, in The Satyrs: "Whenever he had to buy and eat boiled pigs' feet." The tongue is mentioned by Aristophanes in Masters of the Frying-pan: "No more anchovy for me! I am bursting with the greasy stuff I've eaten. Rather, to take the taste away, bring me a piece of liver or a glandule from a young boar, or failing that, a rib or a tongue or a spleen; or fetch me the paunch of a sucking-pig killed in the autumn, with some hot rolls."

§ 3.50  With so much said on these matters, the physicians present did not fail to contribute their share. For Dionysocles said: "Mnesitheus of Athens, in his work on Victuals, remarked that the head and feet of a pig contain little nourishment or fat." And Leonidas quoted Demon, who says, in the fourth book of his Attic History: "Apheidas, when king of Athens, was assassinated by his younger brother Thymoetes, a bastard, who thereupon became king. In his reign Melanthus of Messenia was banished from his native land and asked the Delphic priestess where he should find a home. And she made answer, 'Wherever, on being received as an honoured guest, he should have the feet and the head served to him at dinner.' And this actually happened to him at Eleusis; for when, in the course of the observance of some ancestral festival, the priestesses had consumed all the meat and only the feet and the head were left, these were sent to Melanthus."

§ 3.51  Next was brought in a swine's matrix (uterus), a veritable metropolis and mother to the sons of Hippocrates, who, as I know, were ridiculed in comedy for swinishness. After glancing at it Ulpian said, "Come now, my friends, in what author is the matrix mentioned? We have filled our bellies full, and it's high time that we do the talking; I urge the Cynics to be still, since they have foddered themselves without stint. But perhaps they would like to gnaw to pieces the bones of the jaw and the head; there is no objection to their enjoying that kind of food, being Dogs. For that is what they are, and they boast of the title. [97a] Moreover, 'it is the custom to throw the remnants to the dogs,' as Euripides has said in The Women of Crete. In fact, they will eat and drink anything, never taking to heart what the divine Plato said in the Protagoras: 'To talk about poetry would make our gathering like the symposia of common and vulgar men. For being unable, through lack of cultivation, to amuse one another in company at a symposium, by their own resources or through their own voices and conversation, they raise high the market-price of flute-girls, hiring for a large sum an alien voice — that of the flutes — and for this they come together. But wherever men of gentle breeding and culture are gathered at a symposium, you will see neither flute-girls nor dancing-girls nor harp-girls; on the contrary, they are quite capable of entertaining themselves without such nonsense and child's play, but with their own voices, talking and listening in their turn, and always decently, even when they have drunk much wine.' That is what you Cynics do, Cynulcus. When you drink — or rather when you drain — you are like flute-girls and dancing-girls in thwarting the pleasure of conversation, 'Living, as Plato again describes it in the Philebus, 'the life, not of a human being, but of a mollusk or some other creature of the sea which has breath, and for its body a shell.'"

§ 3.52  And Cynulcus, in a burst of temper cried out, "You glutton, whose god is your belly, and with no wit for anything else! You are ignorant of the art of connected discourse, you cannot recall the facts of history, or even so much as make a slight offering with a graceful phrase. No, you have misused your whole time in asking 'is such a word found or not? Is it used or not used?' And you test every word that occurs to your companions in talk as one tests a smooth surface by drawing his nail over it, collecting all the thorny places, 'like one making his way through prickly plants and thorny liquorice,' for ever wasting time, but never gathering the flowers that are sweetest. You are the one who tells us that what the Romans call strena ('New Year's gift'), a name and a custom of friendly giving handed down by ancient tradition, is the epinomis. Now if you call it that in competition with Plato, we should like to know [what the one has to do with the other]. But if you have found it in any author, tell us who he is. For myself, I know that a certain part of the trireme is called epinomis, according to citations given by Apollonius in his book On the Trireme. You are the one who uttered that new word phainoles, not yet accepted in good use — yes, sir, phainoles has become masculine! — when you said, 'Slave, Leucus! give me that useless phainoles!' Once, when you were on your way to a public bath, did you not answer somebody who asked you where you were going, 'I am hurrying, said I, to mash myself'? On that same day your fine Canusian coat was stolen by sneak-thieves, and loud mirth arose in the bath when the 'useless phainoles' could not be 'found.' And on another occasion, dear mates (for to you shall be told the truth), he stumbled on a stone and wrenched his ankle. After having it attended to, he went on his way, and to all who asked, 'What ails you, Ulpian?' he would say, 'a black eye.' I happened to be with him and could not restrain my laughter on the occasion. Later I was visiting a friend, a physician, and I got him to smear my eyes thickly with a salve; and then, when people asked me, 'What's the matter with you?' I would reply, 'I sprained my eye.'

§ 3.53  "Now there is also another devotee of this same pedantry, Pompeianus of Philadelphia, a man not without guile, [98a] and a word-chaser on his own account. Why! Talking to his slave he would call out his name in loud tones and say, 'Strombichides, carry my intolerable pumps and my useless mantle to the gymnasium. For after I have laced up my beard I am going to address the brethren. For I must cook up Larichus. Fetch, too, the oil jug; for we twain will first have a drub down, and then we will mash ourselves. This same wiseacre once remarked to one of his friends (it was in the month of Februarius, as the Romans call it, which, according to Juba, king of Mauretania, received its name from the spirits of the underworld and the ritual of dispelling the fears they inspired; in this month winter is at its height, and it is customary at this season to offer libations to the departed for several days), 'You have not seen me for many days on account of the burnt-offerings.' During the celebration of the Panathenaea, when the courts do not convene, he said, "it is the natal day of Athena Pullet and today is an "unjust" day.' And on one occasion he even called a friend of ours 'useless' when he returned from Delphi without receiving an oracle from the god. Once, when he was delivering in public a show speech, expatiating on the glories of the Imperial City, he said, 'Marvellous is the unstable empire of the Romans.'

§ 3.54  "This, my friends, is the kind of men who form Ulpian's learned coterie, men who actually give the name 'oven-cauldron' to what the Romans call a miliarium, a contrivance for making hot water. They are the inventors of many strange terms, out-running by many leagues the Sicilian Dionysius, who used to call a maiden 'wait-man' because she waits for a husband, or a pillar 'stand-hold' because it stands and holds, or a javelin 'hurl-against' because it is hurled against one, or mouse-holes 'mice-keepers' because they guard mice. Speaking of this same Dionysius, Athanis, in the first book of his Sicilian History, says that he called the ox 'earth-earer' and the pig iacchos. Like him also was Alexarchus (brother of Cassander, once king of Macedonia), the founder of the city named Uranopolis. Concerning him Heracleides Lembus, in the thirty-seventh book of his Histories, narrates the following: 'Alexarchus, founder of Uranopolis, introduced peculiar expressions, calling the cock "dawn-crier," the barber "mortal-shaver," the drachma "a silver bit," the quart-measure "daily feeder," the herald "loud bawler." And on one occasion he sent this strange message to the authorities of Cassandreia: 'Alexarchus, to the Primipiles of Brother's Town, joy: Our sun-fleshed yeans, I wot, and dams thereof which guard the braes whereon they were born, have been visited by the fateful dome of the gods in might, fresheting them hence from the forsaken fields." What this letter means, I fancy, not even the god of Delphi could make out.' It is like what Antiphanes makes his Cleophanes say: 'But is that "being your own master"? — or what shall you say of a respectable man who follows the sophists about in the Lyceum — thin, worthless starvelings — declaring that "this thing has no being because it is becoming, [99a] and what is becoming cannot yet be said to have become; nor, supposing that it once had being, can that which is now becoming be, for nothing that is not, is. Again, that which has not yet become cannot be until it has become, seeing that it has not yet become; for it has become from that which is; but if it had not had being from something how could it have become out of what is not? That were impossible. But if it has had birth from something somewhere, then it cannot be that what is not shall be born into what is not; for into what is not it cannot pass." What all this means not Apollo himself could understand.'

§ 3.55  "But I am aware that even Simonides the poet somewhere calls Zeus Aristarchus ('noblest ruler'), and that Aeschylus called Hades Agesilaus ('lord of the folk'), while Nicander of Colophon called the creature known as the asp 'poison-shooter.' Moved by these and similar fantastic usages the most admirable Plato, speaking in the Politicus of certain animals which traverse dry land, and of others which traverse the air, applies the terms 'walking on dry land,' 'walking in water,' and 'walking in the air' to land animals, water animals, and birds, by way of exhorting these word-fanciers to avoid strange novelties. His words literally quoted are: 'If you will take care not to be too particular about mere names, you will end in being richer in wisdom when old age comes on.' I am aware, too, that Herodes Atticus, the orator, denominated the block of wood which is thrust between the spokes of a wheel 'a wheel-shackle' on the occasion when he was driving down steep roads, and indeed Simaristus, in his Synonyms, called this block a 'check'; and Sophocles, too, somewhere names the watchman 'a bar to fear' in this verse: 'Have courage! I am thy mighty bar against this fear.' In another passage he calls the anchor a 'stay' because it holds back the vessel: 'The sailors drew up the stay of the ship.' Demades also, the orator, used to say that Aigina was 'the eyesore' of Peiraeus, that Samos was a 'fragment' broken from the empire, that young men are 'the spring-time' of the people, the walls of a city are its 'garb,' and a trumpeter was the 'public cock' of Athens. And this same word-chasing sophist used to speak of a woman whose menses had been checked as 'uncleansed.' When it comes to yourself, Ulpian, how did it occur to you to say 'foddered themselves' when you should have used the word 'satisfied'?"

§ 3.56  To this Ulpian, with a pleasant smile, replied: "Nay, do not bark, comrade, nor grow savage, shooting forth canine madness during the dog-days; rather, you should fawn on and wag your tail at your convives, lest we turn our holiday into a Cynophontis (dog-slaughter like the one celebrated at Argos. 'Foddered,' my good sir, is a word used as I have used it by Cratinus in the Odysseis: 'All day long ye sat and foddered yourself with pure milk.' Again, Menander in Trophonius used the past participle 'foddered'; and Aristophanes in Gerytades: 'Take care of her and fodder her with monodies.' So, too, Sophocles in Tyro says: 'With food of every fodder we entertained our guests'; [100a] and Eubulus in Dolon: 'Gentlemen, I have foddered myself not badly, nay, I am full, and so, try as hard as I might, with all my efforts I could scarcely lace my shoes.' Sophilus, also, in The Colonel of Horse: 'There is going to be gluttony at large expense; I can see its beginnings. I shall fodder myself to the full. By Dionysus, gentlemen, I am in clover already.' And Amphis in The Sky: 'When evening comes I fodder myself on everything that's good.' These examples then, I can readily cite now for your benefit, Cynulcus, but tomorrow, or on the morrow's morrow, — Hesiod speaks of the second day hence in this way — I'll fodder you with blows if you don't tell me where the word 'belly-god' is found. When Cynulcus made no answer he resumed: "Very well, my Dog-sage, I will tell you this myself — that Eupolis denotes flatterers by that word in the play of that name; but I will postpone the proof until I pay you the beating I owe you."

§ 3.57  They were all delighted with these jests, and Ulpian continued: "What is more, I will render an account of the word metra ('swine's paunch'). Alexis, in the play entitled The Man from Pontus, by way of ridiculing the orator Callimedon, surnamed 'Carabus'(crayfish), who was active in politics in Demosthenes' time, says: 'Every man is willing to die for his country, but Callimedon the Crayfish would doubtless submit to death for a boiled sow's paunch.' Now Callimedon was a notorious gourmand. The paunch is mentioned also by Antiphanes in Fond of his Mother, thus: 'If the wood has pith in it, it can put forth a sprout; a town is a mother-city, not a father-city; the matrix is a delectable meat sold by some; Metras the Chian is one whom the people love.' So Euphron in The Surrendered Girl: 'My teacher prepared a paunch and served it to Callimedon; and while he ate it, it made him jump, whence he got the name of crayfish.' And Dioxippus in A Foe to Pimps: 'What dishes he hankers after! how refined they are! sweetbreads, paunches, entrails.' And in The Historian: 'Through the portico burst Amphicles, and pointing to two paunches hanging there he cried, 'Send Callimedon here if you see him.' So Eubulus in Deucalion: 'Chicken-livers, a jejunum, and a haggis and paunch.'

§ 3.58  "Lynceus of Samos, intimate friend of Theophrastus, also knows of the use of the paunch with silphium extract. At any rate, in his description of Ptolemy's symposium his words are: 'A paunch was passed round, served in vinegar and silphium juice.' This juice is mentioned by Antiphanes in Unhappy Lovers, speaking of Cyrene: 'I will not sail back to the place from which we were carried away, for I want to say good-bye to all — horses, silphium, chariots, silphium stalks, steeple-chasers, silphium leaves, fevers, and silphium juice.' [101a] "The special excellence of the vulva eiectitia is mentioned by Hippocrates, author of the Egyptian Iliad, in these lines: 'Rather, let me be cheered by a casserole or the lovely countenance of a miscarried matrix, or a sucking pig whose smell comes deliciously from the oven.' And Sopater says in his Hippolytus: 'How the fecund miscarried matrix rounds out cheese-like in the stew, covered with white sauce!' In the Man of Science he says: 'A slice of sow's matrix not over-cooked, with pungent brine-and-vinegar sauce inside.' And in Bookworms: '. . . That you may eat a slice of sow's matrix boiled, dipping it into the bitter gall of rue.'

§ 3.59  "As to the ancients, however, none of them had the custom of serving swine's paunches or lettuce or any other like relish before a banquet, as is done today. Archestratus, at any rate, the inventive genius of cookery, speaks of it after the dinner, the toasts, and the smearing with perfumes: 'Always crown the head at a banquet with chaplets of all the myriad flowers wherewith earth's happy floor doth bloom, and dress the hair with fragrant, distilled unguents, and on the soft ashes of the fire throw myrrh and frankincense, Syria's redolent fruit, all the livelong day. And as you sip your wine let these relishes be brought to you — pig's belly and boiled sow's matrix floating in cummin and vinegar and silphium; also the tender tribe of birds roasted, such as the season affords. But disregard those Syracusans, who drink frog-fashion without eating anything; nay, yield not to them, but eat the food I tell you. All the other common desserts are a sign of dire poverty — boiled chick-peas, beans, apples, and dried figs. Yet accept a cheese-cake made in Athens; or failing that, if you get one from somewhere else, go out and demand some Attic honey, since that will make your cheese-cake superb. This is the way in which a freeborn man should live, else down below the earth, even below the pit and Tartarus, he should go to his destruction and lie buried countless fathoms deep.' "Lynceus, however, in his description of the dinner given by the flute-girl Lamia in honour of Demetrius Poliorcetes represents the guests as eating all sorts of fish and flesh the moment they entered the dining-room. Similarly, describing the arrangements for King Antigonus's dinner, when he celebrated the festival of Aphrodite, as well as the dinner given by King Ptolemy, he says that fish and meat were served first.

§ 3.60  "We may well admire Archestratus, therefore, the author of the excellent admonitions just quoted. Anticipating the philosopher Epicurus in his doctrine of pleasure, he gives us advice in wise sayings after the manner of the poet of Ascra, telling us not to follow certain persons, but rather to heed only himself, and urging us to eat this and that; precisely like the cook in the comic poet Damoxenus, who says, in Foster Brothers: 'A. [102a] In me you see a disciple of the sage Epicurus, in whose house, let me tell you, I "condensed" four talents in less than two years and ten months. — B. What does this mean? Explain! — A. I "consecrated" them. That fellow, too, was a cook — ye gods, he knew not what a cook he was! Nature is the primal source of every art, the primal, you sinner! You cannot imagine anything cleverer than she, and every undertaking is easy to one who is versed in this doctrine, since much conspires to help him. Wherefore, when you see an illiterate cook, one who has not read Democritus entire or rather does not know him by heart, spurn him as an empty fool; and if he knows not the Rule of Epicurus, dismiss him with contempt, as being outside the pale of philosophy. For you have got to know, good sir, the difference between a horse-mackerel in winter and one in summer; next, what fish is most useful at the time the Pleiad sets, and at the solstice. For mutations and movements, to men abysmal evil, work changes in their food, you understand; but that which is eaten in proper season yields gratification. But how many can follow all this with understanding? As a result, colic and winds arise, and make the guest behave with impropriety. But with my cooking, the food that is eaten nourishes, is properly digested and — exhaled. Hence the juices are distributed evenly in all the passages. The juice, says Democritus, causes no trouble; it is what subvenes that makes the eater gouty. — B. It looks to me as if you knew something of medicine also. — A. Yes, and so does anyone else who penetrates Nature. But observe, in the gods' name, the ignorance of modern cooks. When you see them making a pickled sauce out of fish of contradictory qualities, and grating a dash of sesame into it, take them in turn and — tweak their noses! — B. How delightful! — A. Ay, for what possible good can come when one individual quality is mixed with another and twisted together in a hostile grip? Distinguishing these things clearly is a soulful art, not washing dishes or reeking with smoke. For myself, I never enter the kitchen. — B. Why, what do you do? — A. I sit near by and watch, while others do the work; to them I explain the principles and the result. "Softly! the mincemeat is seasoned highly enough." — B. You must be a musician, not a cook! A. "Play fortissimo with the fire. Make the tempo even. The first dish is not simmering in tune with the others next it." [103a] Do you catch my drift? — B. Save us! — A. It's beginning to look like an art to you, what? You see, I serve no course without study, I mingle all in a harmonious scale. — B. What does that mean? — A. Some things are related to each other by fourths, by fifths, or by octaves. These I join by their own proper intervals, and weave them in a series of appropriate courses. Sometimes I superintend with admonitions like "What are you joining that to?" "What are you going to mix with that?" "Look out! You are pulling a discordant string." "Leave that out, won't you?" Even so did Epicurus condense pleasure into the sum of wisdom. He could masticate with care. He is the only one who knows what the Good is. They of the Stoa are always seeking for it, but they don't know what its nature is. What, therefore, they have not got and do not know, they cannot impart to anyone else. B. I quite agree. Let us, then, dismiss the rest of your story; it has long been plain what it is.'

§ 3.61  Baton, also, in The Fellow-Cheater, portrays a father in distress over his young son, whose manners have been spoiled by his nurse. He says: 'You have taken my boy and ruined him, you foul wretch, have lured him into a life foreign to his nature. He now takes a morning cup through your influence, something he never did before. — DNURSE: And so, master, you blame me if he has seen a bit of life? FATHER: Life, do you call that life? — NURSE: Yes, the wise so call it. Epicurus, anyhow, says that pleasure is the highest Good; everybody knows that. You cannot have it any other way, whereas by living well, of course all live rightly. Perhaps you will grant me that? — FATHER: Tell me then, have you ever seen a true philosopher drunk, or beguiled by the doctrines you preach? — NURSE: Aye, every mother's son of them. At any rate, those who walk with eyebrows uplifted, and seek in their discussions and discourses for "the wise man," as if he were a runaway slave, once you set a sea-lizard before them, know so well what "topic" to attack first, seek so skilfully for the "gist or head of the matter," that everybody is amazed at their knowledge.'

§ 3.62  "Then, too, in The Soldier, or Tychon, by Antiphanes, there appears a fellow who gives this advice, saying: 'Any mortal man who counts on having anything he owns secure for life is very much mistaken. For either a war-tax snatches away all he has saved, or he becomes involved in a lawsuit and loses all, or he is fined after serving in the War Office, or is chosen to finance a play, and after supplying golden costumes for the chorus he has to wear rags himself; or called to serve as trierarch, he hangs himself, or sailing in his ship he is captured somewhere, or as he takes a walk or a nap he is murdered by his slaves. No, nothing is certain, [104a] except what one may chance to spend happily upon himself day by day. And even that is not so very certain. Somebody might come and carry off the very table spread with food. Rather, it's only when you've got your mouthful past your teeth and have swallowed it down that you can count it the one thing safe among your possessions.' The same lines occur also in The Water Jar.

§ 3.63  "So then, my friends, when one considers these facts, he must with good reason approve the noble Chrysippus for his shrewd comprehension of Epicurus's 'Nature,' and his remark that the very centre of the Epicurean philosophy is the Gastrology of Archestratus, that noble epic which all philosophers given to hearty eating claim as their Theognis. It is against these also that Theognetus pronounces in The Ghost or Miser: 'You'll be the death of me, fellow, with all this! You have stuffed yourself sick with the puny dogmas of the Painted Stoa, that "wealth is not man's concern, wisdom is his peculiar possession, being as solid ice to thin frost; once obtained it is never lost." Unlucky wretch that I am, to be compelled by fate to live with such a philosopher! You, poor fool, must have learned your letters backwards; books have turned your life upside down. You have gabbled your silly philosophy to earth and heaven, which pay no heed whatever to your words.'"

§ 3.64  While Ulpian was still talking, slaves entered, carrying on platters some crayfish larger than the orator Callimedon, who, because of his for fondness for this viand, was called "Crayfish." Alexis, to be sure, writing in Dorcis, or The Woman Who Smacks, calls him fish-lover, following a tradition common to other comic poets as well: "The fishmongers have voted, so people say, to raise a bronze statue of Callimedon in the fish-market at the next Panathenaea, holding in his right hand a crayfish; for they regard him as the sole saviour of their business, all other customers being a loss." Yet the eating of crayfish was extremely popular, as may be shown by many passages in comedy. For the present it will suffice to quote Aristophanes, who says, in the Thesmophoriazusae: "A. Hasn't anybody bought a fish? a squid, may be, or some broad prawns, or a polyp? Is there no broiled faster or salmon, and no squids? — B. No, Zeus help us, none at all. — A. Not even a ray? — FB. No, I tell you! — A. No haggis or beestings or boar's liver, not even honey or pig's paunch? Have you not even supplied the weary women with an eel or a large crayfish?" By "broad prawns" he must mean lobsters, as we call them, mentioned by Philyllius in The Island-Towns. And this may be inferred from the fact that Archestratus, in his famous poem, does not even mention the word crayfish, but speaks of it as lobster, as in the following: [105a] "But letting a lot of trash go, buy yourself a lobster, the kind which has long claws, and heavy withal, with feet that are small, and but slowly crawls he upon the land. Most of them, and the best of all in quality, are in the Liparae Islands; yet the Hellespont also gathers many." Further, Epicharmus, in The Marriage of Hebe, makes clear that the lobster mentioned above by Archestratus is the same as the cray, when he says: "There are lobsters and crabs as well, and the creature with small feet and long claws, and its name is cray."

§ 3.65  But the crayfish variety is quite distinct from that of the lobster, and shrimps, again, are different. Those who speak Attic Greek pronounce the word for lobster with an o (ostakos), like the word for raisins. But Epicharmus, in Earth and Sea, has the form with a, "lobsters (astakoi) with crooked claws." Speusippus, in the second book of Similars, says that among the soft-shell crustaceans the crayfish, lobster, nympha, bear-crab, common crab, and pagurus crab are alike. Further, Diocles of Carystus says that shrimps, crabs, crayfish, and lobsters are well-flavoured and diuretic. According to Nicander, another kind of crab, the colybdaena, is mentioned by Epicharmus in the play cited above, under the name of "sea-phallus;" but Heracleides, in his Art of Cookery, says that he means the shrimp. Aristotle, in the fifth book of The History of Animals, says: "Of the soft-shelled crustaceans, the crayfish, lobsters, shrimps, and the like copulate from the rear, like the retromingent quadrupeds. Coition takes place at the beginning of spring near the shore (it has long since been observed in the case of all these creatures), but in some regions it occurs later, when the figs begin to ripen. The crayfish, he adds, multiply in rough, rocky places, the lobsters in smooth, but neither occur on muddy grounds. Hence we find lobsters in the Hellespont and off the coast of Thasos, but crayfish off Sigeium and Mount Athos. All crayfish, moreover, are long-lived." Theophrastus, too, in his tract on Animals which live in holes, asserts that lobsters, crayfish, and shrimps slough off old age.

§ 3.66  Speaking of shrimps (karides), Ephorus in Book III records that there was a town of that name near the island of Chios, and he declares that it was founded by the survivors of the flood, led by Macar, in Deucalion's time; and even to his day the place was called Karides (Crayville). That artificer of fancy dishes, Archestratus, gives this advice: "If ever you go to Iasus, city of the Carians, you will get a good-sized shrimp. But it is rare in the market, whereas in Macedonia and Ambracia there are plenty." The word karis is used with a long i by Araros in The Hunchback: "The squirming shrimps leaped forth like dolphins into the rope-twined pot." Also by Eubulus in Orthannes: "I let down a shrimp and pulled it up again." Anaxandrides in Lycurgus: "He sports with the shrimplets among the perchlets and whitebait, with the sole among the gobios, and with the shiners among the gudgeon." This writer says, in Pandarus: [106a] "You can't be straight, good friend, when you are bending over: and so this woman twists and squirms like a shrimp anchored fast to your body." Likewise in The Tail: "I'll make you redder than a broiled shrimp." Eubulus, in The Nurses, has the phrase "shrimps, among creatures that have arched backs." And Ophelion, The Ugly Fair, speaks of "curved shrimps heaped together on dry land"; and again in The Wail from the East: "as curved shrimps leap on coals, so danced they." On the other hand, the word karis is used with a short i by Eupolis in The Goats: "Except that once I ate some shrimps in the house of Phaeax"; and in The Demes, "He had the face of a shrimp, as red as a leather belt."

§ 3.67  Shrimps (karides) got their name from kara, "head," for the head takes up the biggest part of the body. Attic writers, employing the word with a short i, derive it in the same way: it comes from kare, "head," because of the prominent head it possesses. Just asgraphis, "graver," comes from graphe, "picture," and bolis, "missile," from bole, "a throw," so also karis from kare. Since the penult was lengthened the ultima was lengthened also, and it is pronounced like psephis, "pebble," and crepis, "boot."

§ 3.68  Concerning these crustaceans Diphilus of Siphnos writes thus: "Among the crustaceans the shrimp, lobster, crayfish, crab, and lion-crab, though of the same family, differ from one another. The lion-crab is larger than the lobster. The crayfish are also called grapsaei; they contain more meat than the crab. Crab-meat is heavy and hard to digest." Mnesitheus of Athens, in his work on Victuals, goes further and says that "crayfish, crabs, shrimps, and the like are all hard to digest, yet are more digestible than any other kind of fish, and should be broiled rather than stewed." Sophron uses the form kurides for karides in his Mimes of Women: "Lo, the beauteous kurides (shrimps), lo, the lobsters, lo, the beauties! Behold how red they are and smooth-haired!" So Epicharmus in Earth and Sea, "the red kurides too"; but in Lord and Lady Logos, he spells it with o, "small fry and crooked korides." So also Simonides: "cuttle-fish with tunny, korides with gudgeon."

§ 3.69  (106e) The next dish to be brought in was fried liver wrapped in "fold-over," the so-called epiplus, which Philetaerus in Tereus calls epiploon. After gazing upon it Cynulcus said, "Tell us, learned Ulpian, whether liver thus encased is mentioned anywhere." He answered, "Show us first in what author epiplus is used of the fatty caul." Thereupon Myrtilus took up their challenge and said: "The word epiplus for 'caul' occurs in The Bacchants of Epicharmus: [107a] 'The leader he hid in a caul'; also in his Envoys: 'round the loin and the caul. So, too, Ion of Chios in his Sojournings: 'hiding it in the caul.' You are reserving the caul my dear Ulpian, against the time when you shall be wrapped in it and consumed, and so rid us all of your questionings. But it is only fair that you should cite testimony about liver dressed in this way, since you said a while ago, when we were discussing ears and feet, that Alexis mentions it in Crateias or The Apothecary. The entire passage is valuable as illustrating a number of things, and since your memory at present is not equal to it, I will recite it at length myself. The comedian says: 'First, then, I spied oysters, wrapped in seaweed, in the shop of an Old Man of the Sea, and sea-urchins too. I grabbed them; for they are the prelude to a daintily ordered dinner. Next, I came upon some little fish, all trembling for fear of what was to happen to them. But I bade them have no fears so far as I was concerned, promising that I wouldn't harm a single one, and bought a large greyfish. Then I took an electric ray-fish, being mindful that when a lady lays tender fingers upon it she must not suffer any hurt from its thorny touch. For the frying-pan I got some wasse, sole, shrimp, jack hake, gudgeon, perch, and sea-bream, and made the dish gayer than a peacock. Then came some meats — feet, snouts, and swine's ears, and liver wrapped in caul; for it is ashamed of its own livid colour. No professional cook shall come near these, or even look upon them. He will rue it, let me tell you. Rather, I shall myself act as steward, so cleverly, so smoothly, and elegantly (yes, I shall make the dish myself), that I shall cause the feasters now and then to push their teeth into the plates for very joy. The preparation and composition of all these foods I am ready to disclose, proclaim, and teach for nothing if anybody wishes to learn.'

§ 3.70  "Further to show that it was customary to wrap livers in caul, Hegesander of Delphi, in his Commentaries, says of Metaneira the courtesan that she found a lung in a dish of cased livers, and when, on removing the fat, she discovered it, she cried out, 'I am lost! My enfolding garments have been my undoing.' "Perhaps the comic poet Crobylus may be added to those who, like Alexis, speak of liver so prepared as 'feeling ashamed'; for in The False Substitute he says: 'And verily he added a stout polyp's claw and to this again the shamed liver of a dung-eating boar.' Liver is mentioned also by Aristophanes in Masters of the Frying-pan, by Alcaeus in The Wrestling-school, and by Eubulus in Deucalion. The word should be pronounced with rough breathing; for elision before it in Archilochus is effected with an aspirate. He says namely, 'You have no bile attaching to your liver (eph hepati).' [108a] "But there is also a fish (hepatos) named from the liver, of which the same Eubulus, in The Laconians or Leda, says that it has no gall: 'So you didn't think I had any gall, you talked to me as if I were a liver-fish? But I would have you know I am still a fierce fighter.' Hegesander, in his Commentaries, says that the liver-fish has two stones in its head similar in lustre and colour to those found in oysters, but rhomboid in shape.

§ 3.71  "Fish for frying are mentioned by Alexis in his Demetrius as well as in the play cited above. Compare Eubulus in Orthannes: 'Every pretty woman who is in love resorts thither, as well as the runty lads who are nurslings of the frying-pan — wild Mohawks lounging in the cake-shops. In the same company, too, the squid and the maid of Phalerum, wedded to lambs' entrails, skip and dance like a colt let loose from the yoke. The fan stirs up the watch-dogs of Hephaestus, rousing them to fury with the hot vapour from the pan, and the savour thus provoked leaps to the nostrils. The kneaded roll, Demeter's daughter, draws its hollow cleft along, made by the pressure of the finger to look like a trireme's ram — the best introduction to a dinner.' "They used also to eat fried cuttle-fish. Nicostratus (or Philaeterus) says, in Antyllus: 'Never again shall I venture alone to eat cuttle-fish from the pan.' And Hegemon, in Philinna, represents persons eating small fry also out of the pan in these verses: 'Nay, but go quickly and buy me a polyp, and let me eat small fry even from the pan.'"

§ 3.72  Whereupon Ulpian, not pleased at this, but in some vexation, glanced sharply at us and recited these iambics from the Orthannes of Eubulus: "'How glad I am that that god-detested fellow — Myrtilus — has come to shipwreck on a frying-pan;' for I am sure that he never bought or ate any of these things, because one of his own slaves once recited to me these verses from Eubulus's Pimp: 'I am kept by a cruel brute from Thessaly, a rich but avaricious sinner; a gourmand he, who spends as much as sixpence on a dinner.' The lad had a fine education, which he had got not in Myrtilus's house, of course, but when he lived with some other master. So I asked him how he had come to fall into Myrtilus's hands. He answered me in these lines from The Chick of Antiphanes: 'When a child I was brought by a trader here to Athens with my sister. I am a Syrian. Put up at auction, this skinflint happened upon us and bought us — a fellow unsurpassed for villainy, the kind that won't bring anything but thyme into the house, not even one of the things the thrice-sainted Pythagoras permitted to be eaten.'"

§ 3.73  While Ulpian was still jesting in this way, Cynulcus bawled, "We want bread (artos), and I don't mean the Artos who was king of the Messapii in Iapygia, concerning whom there is a tract by Polemon. He is mentioned by Thucydides also in Book VII, and by the comic poet Demetrius in the play entitled Sicily: [109a] 'A. From there, with the wind in the south, we crossed the main to Italy and the country of the Messapii. And Artos received and entertained us nobly. — B. Ay, a pleasant host. — A. Large was he in that country, and white.' On the present occasion, it wasn't Artos (Bread) that was wanted, but the loaves invented by Demeter, our Lady of the Grain and of Abundance. For with these titles the goddess is honoured in Syracuse, as the same Polemon remarks in his work on Morychus. And in Book I of his Reply to Timaeus he says that in the Boeotian town of Scolus there are images enshrined of Megalartus and Megalomazus." When, presently loaves of bread were brought in and there was, in addition, an abundance of all sorts of food, he looked at them and said, "'How many traps to catch bread do unhappy mortals set,'" quoting Alexis in the comedy called Into the Well."Suppose we, then, talk about Bread."

§ 3.74  But Pontianus anticipated him and said: "Tryphon of Alexandria, in Plant Life, names the different sorts of bread, if I remember rightly, as follows: raised bread, unleavened bread, bread made with fine flour, with groats, with unbolted meal (the last, he declares, is more laxative than that made of refined flour), bread made of rye, of spelt, and of millet. The groat bread, he says, is made of rice-wheat, for it cannot be made of barley. 'Oven-bread' is so named from being baked; it is mentioned by Timocles in Sham Robbers thus: 'Seeing that a dough-pan fresh from the fire was lying there, I ate some of the oven-bread piping hot.' Brazier-bread is mentioned by Antidotus in The Premier Danseur: 'He took some hot brazier-bread — why not? — and folding it over he dipped it into sweet wine.' Also by Crobylus in The Suicide: 'taking a dough-pan full of fine brazier-bread.' Further, Lynceus of Samos, in his letter to Diagoras, compares the food used in Athens with that of Rhodes, and says: 'Besides, the bread sold in their market is famous, and they bring it in at the beginning and the middle of a banquet without stint. And when they are tired and sated with eating, they then introduce a most delightful allurement in what is called smeared brazier-bread. It is a soft and delectable compound dipped in sweet wine, with such harmonious effect that a marvellous result comes to one whether he will or no; for just as the drunken man often becomes sober again, so the eater of it grows hungry again with its delicious flavour.' Another kind listed by Tryphon is Atabyrite bread. Sopater mentions it in The Woman of Cnidus: 'And there was an Atabyrite loaf to stuff the jaws.'
Achaenae loaves. — This bread is mentioned by Semos in the eighth book of the Delias. He says that it is made in honour of Demeter and Kore. They are large loaves and a festival called Megalartia is celebrated by persons who contribute it reciting the words, 'a goat full of lard for our Lady of Sorrows.' "Oven bread. — Aristophanes mentions this in Old Age. There he introduces a bread-woman whose loaves have been torn to bits by the animals which cast off their old skin. She says: 'What does this mean?' — One answers: 'Give us some hot rolls, daughter.' She: 'But you must be mad!' — 'Fresh from the oven, daughter.' — She: 'What do you mean, fresh from the oven?' — 'And very white, daughter.' [110a] "Bread baked in ashes. — This is mentioned by Nicostratus in The High Priest, and by that great artist of cookery, Archestratus, whose testimony I will cite in the proper place. "The biscuit. — Eubulus mentions it in Ganymede, as does Alcaeus in his Ganymede: 'A. Hot biscuits, too. — B. And what are biscuits? — B. They are voluptuous loaves.' "Wafer bread. — This is both light and thin, and the so-called epanthrakis is even more so. The first (laganon) is mentioned by Aristophanes in the Ecclesiazusae in the words 'Wafers are baking'; the second, the apanthrakis, by Diocles of Carystus in Book I of his Hygiene. He says: 'The apanthrakis is baked over charcoal, like the ash-bread of the Athenians; the Alexandrians, moreover, consecrate it to Cronus and set it forth in the temple of Cronus for anyone to eat.

§ 3.75  Epicharmus, however, in The Marriage of Hebe and in The Muses — this latter play being a revision of the former — sets forth various kinds of bread thus: oven, neighbour, suet, honey-and-oil, lard-bread, and half-loaf. These are also mentioned by Sophron in his Mimes of Women, as follows: 'A dinner for the goddesses — oven-bread, neighbour-cake, and a half-loaf to Hecate.' "I know, my friends, that in Attic Greek the words for oven, kribanos and kribanites, are pronounced with the letter r, whereas Herodotus, in the second book of his History has a 'red-hot klibanos.' And so wrote Sophron: 'Who is baking suet-bread or oven-bread (klibanitae) or half-loaves?' The same writer mentions also a kind of bread named plakites ('flat') in the Mimes of Women: 'She promised she would treat me in the evening to some griddle-cakes.' Cheese-bread, too, is mentioned by Sophron in the mime entitled Mother-in-Law, thus: 'I advise you to snatch a bite; for someone has sent cheese-bread for the children.' "Nicander of Colophon, in his Glossary, calls unleavened bread daratos. Plato (the comic poet) in A Long Night calls the large and dirty loaves 'Cilician' in these lines: 'And then he bought and sent us some loaves; don't think they were the clean, tidy kind; they were large Cilicians.' And in the play entitled Menelaus he calls certain loaves agelaioi. Bread of unbolted wheat is mentioned by Alexis in The Man from Cyprus: 'He has just eaten a whole loaf of whole-wheat bread.' These are called autopyritae by Phrynichus in The Weeders: 'With loaves of unbolted wheat and oily olive-cakes.' "Sophocles in Triptolemus mentions orindes bread, i.e. the bread which is made with rice, a seed which grows in Aethiopia and resembles sesame. A form of roll called kollabos is mentioned by Aristophanes in Masters of the Frying-pan, 'Each of you take a roll;' and again, 'Or fetch me the paunch of a sucking-pig killed in the autumn, with some hot rolls.' These rolls are made of new wheat, as Philyllius makes clear in Auge: 'Here I come in person, bringing the fruit of wheat three months in the growing, hot rolls as white as milk.' Bread sprinkled with poppy-seed is mentioned by Alcman in Book V as follows: [111a] 'Couches seven, and as many tables laden with poppy-bread, and bread with flax and sesame seed; and in cups . . . golden sweets.' This is a confection made of honey and flaxseed. "Another form of bread is the so-called kollyra, mentioned by Aristophanes in the Peace: 'A mighty roll and a box on the ears as a relish to go with it.' Also in the Merchantmen: 'And a roll for the veterans, because of the trophy they raised at Marathon.'

§ 3.76  "Obelias bread is so named because it is sold for an obol, as in Alexandria, or because it used to be baked on a spit. Aristophanes in The Farmers: 'Then there is a man who haply is baking a loaf on the spit.' Pherecrates in The Forgetful Man: 'Fall greedily on the spitted bread and heed not the loaf.' Obeliaphoroi was the name also given to those who carried these loaves on their shoulders in processions. Socrates in the sixth book of Epithets says that Dionysus invented spitted bread in his campaigns. "Pulse bread is the same as that which is called lekithitas, according to Eucrates. Panos is 'bread' in Messapian. Hence abundance is called pania, and things that satisfy pania, by Blaesus in Half-Worn, Deinolochus in Telephus, and Rhinthon in Amphitryon. The Romans, also, call bread panis. "Nastos is the name given to a large loaf of leavened bread, according to Polemarchus and Artemidorus; but Heracleon says it is a kind of round, flat cake. Nicostratus has the word in The Couch: 'There was a cake, my master, as big as this, and white; it was so thick that it bulged from the basket, and when the cover was taken off, an odour and a steam mingled with honey rose upward to the nostrils; for it was still hot.' 'Grated' bread is a variety in use in Ionia, as Artemidorus of Ephesus says in Ionian Notes. "Throne is also the name of a bread. Neanthes of Cyzicus, in Book II of his History of Greece, writes as follows: 'Codrus received a slice of bread, the so-called throne — also meat, and they apportion it to the eldest.' "There is also an ash-baked bread in Elis called bacchylos, as Nicander records in Book II of his Glossary. Diphilus, too, mentions it thus in The Mistaken Lady: 'Carry round ash-baked bread of finely-sifted flour.' Another variety of bread also is the so-called apopyrias ('toasted')' it is baked directly over the coals. This is called a yeast bread by some, as Cratinus in Mollycoddles: 'First, I have here some toasted leavened bread — none of your stuff filled with cudweed.'

§ 3.77  Archestratus in his Gastronomy expounds thus the subject of barley-meal and bread: 'First, then, dear Moschus, I will call to mind the gifts of fair-haired Demeter, and do thou lay it to heart. The best that one may get, ay, the finest in the world, all cleanly sifted from the rich fruit of barley, grows where the crest of glorious Eresus in Lesbos is washed by the waves. It is whiter than snow from the sky. If it so be that the gods eat barley-meal, [112a] Hermes must go and buy it for them there. In seven-gated Thebes, too, there is good barley, in Thasos, also, and in some other towns; but theirs seem like grape-stones compared with the Lesbian. Grasp that with understanding sure. Supply yourself also with the round roll of Thessaly, well twisted in the maker's hand, which Thessalians call krimnitas, but the rest of the world calls chondrinos. Next, I recommend the scion of Tegea's fine wheat, baked in ashes. Very fine, too, is the wheat loaf made for the market which glorious Athens supplies to mortals; and the loaf which comes white from the oven in Erythrae, where grapes grow richly, and abounds in all the luxurious daintiness of the Seasons, will delight you at the feast.' Following this description, the chef Archestratus advises that the bread-maker be a Phoenician or a Lydian; he did not know that the Cappadocian bakers are the best. He says: 'Be sure that you have in the house a man from Phoenicia or Lydia who knows how to make daily every kind of bread, no matter what you order.'

§ 3.78  "The excellence of Attic bread is called to mind in the following passage from the Omphale of Antiphanes; 'How could a man of gentle breeding ever leave this roof, when he sees these white-bodied loaves crowding the furnace in close ranks, and when he sees, too, how they have changed their shape in the oven — deft imitations made by Attic skill, which Thearion taught his countrymen?' This Thearion is the baker whom Plato mentions in the Gorgias, coupling him with Mithaecus thus: 'When I asked you what men have been or are good at caring for men's bodies, you answered me with the utmost seriousness, Thearion the baker, Mithaecus, who wrote the treatise on Sicilian cookery, and Sarambus the wine-merchant; because they have proved themselves marvellous caretakers of the body, the first by making wonderful bread, the second relishes for meat, and the third by furnishing wine.' Aristophanes, also, speaks of Thearion in Gerytades again in Aeolosicon in these lines: 'I am come from the bakehouse of Thearion, where are the ovens' abodes.' "But the bread of Cyprus also is mentioned for its excellence by Eubulus in these verses of Orthannes: 'Hard it is to see Cyprian loaves and ride by; like a magnet they draw the hungry to them.' And as for the buns called kollikia — they are the same as the kollaboi — Ephippus mentions them thus in Artemis: 'From Alexander, from bun-eating Thessaly, comes an oven full of loaves.' And Aristophanes in The Acharnians: 'Good-morning, you little bun-eating Boeotian.'"

§ 3.79   [113a] At the end of this recital one of the learned men present, Arrian by name, spoke up: "all this 'breadstuff,' comrades, is getting stale. For we have no interest either in barley (since the town is full of wheat bread), or in the list of these kinds of bread. For I have come across another treatise, beside those cited, by Chrysippus of Tyana, entitled Bread-making, and have made the acquaintance of all the terms here mentioned by many of our friends, and so I shall proceed to say something on my own account about bread. The bread called artopticeus differs from that baked in ovens and furnaces. If now, you make it with hard yeast, it will be white and good to eat dry; but if with dissolved yeast, it will be light but not so white. Bread baked in the oven and furnace requires a softer yeast. The Greeks have a bread called 'soft,' which is made with a little milk and oil and sufficient salt; the dough must be quite soft. This bread is called Cappadocian, since it is chiefly in Cappadocia that 'soft' bread is made. Such bread is called lachma by the Syrians and is found to be very serviceable in Syria, because it may be eaten when very warm. It also resembles a flower. "There is also a 'boletus' bread, so-called, shaped like a mushroom. The kneading-trough is greased and sprinkled with poppy-seed, on which the dough is spread, and so it does not stick to the trough during the rising. When it is placed in the oven, some coarse meal is sprinkled over the earthenware pan, after which the loaf is laid upon it and takes on a delightful colour, like that of smoked cheese. "Twist bread is prepared with the admixture of a little milk; there is added also a little pepper and oil or lard. But in making the so-called artolaganon ('wheat-wafer'), a little wine, pepper, and milk are introduced, along with a small quantity of oil or lard. Similarly into kapyria, called by the Romans tracta, are put mixtures as into the wheat-wafer."

§ 3.80  When the great Roman scholar had expounded his lore, worthy of Aristarchus, Cynulcus said: "In the name of Demeter, what learning! It's no wonder our admirable Bright-eyes has disciples by the hundreds, and has won so much wealth by this splendid erudition, surpassing Gorgias and Protagoras. Wherefore I swear by the goddesses that I am in doubt what to say. Can it be that he himself cannot see, or have they who entrust themselves to him as pupils only one eye among them, so that they can scarcely see because of their number? Happy, then, I should call them, or rather, they have passed on to the happy state, since their teachers give them disquisitions like this." To him answered Magnus, a bon vivant who extravagantly admired the industrious zeal of this scholar: "'You, there,' to quote the words the comic poet Eubulus, 'live in the air with feet unwashed, sleeping on poor pallets of straw, foul gullets, which slyly feed on others' stores.' Did not your progenitor Diogenes once greedily eat up a whole cake at dinner, and in reply to a question say that he was eating some very good bread? And you yourselves, 'greedy dish-lickers of white tunny steaks' — to quote Eubulus once more — never yield place to others, but keep up your din, [114a] and refuse to be quiet until somebody tosses you a bit of bread or bone as he would to a pack of dogs. How should you know that dice, not the kind you always use, are square-shaped loaves seasoned with anise, cheese, and oil, as Heracleides says in his Art of Cookery? Our Bright-eyes has overlooked this variety, as also the thargelos, called by some thalysios; for Crates for Crates, in Book II of his Attic Dialect, says that thargelos is the name given to the first bread made after the harvest. He has also overlooked sesame bread, and has not even noticed the anastatos, so-called, which is prepared for the Arrephoroi. Then there is also the pyramous, baked with sesame seed and possibly the same as sesame bread. Tryphon mentions all these varieties in Book I of his Plant Life, as well as those denominated thiagones, which are loaves baked in honour of the gods in Aitolia. Dramikes also and drames are names given to certain kinds of loaves by the Athamanians.

§ 3.81  The compilers of glossaries, also, list the names of bread. Thus Seleucus has dramis, name of a loaf among the Macedonians, but called duratos by Thessalians. Etnitas, he says, is a bread made of pulse, while erikitas is the name given to a loaf made of coarsely cracked, unsifted wheat. Amerias, again, calls the bread of unbolted wheat 'dry-wheat bread,' as Timachidas does also. Nicander says the thiagones is the name given by Aitolians to loaves baked in honour of the gods. Egyptians call their sourish bread kyllastis. Aristophanes mentions it in The Daughters of Danaus: 'Sing, too, of sour bread and Master Petosiris.' Others who mention it are Hecataeus, Herodotus, and Phanodemus in the seventh book of his Attic History. Further, Nicander of Thyateira says that bread made of barley is called kyllastis by the Egyptians. The dirty loaves Alexis named 'grey-bread' in The Man from Cyprus: 'A. Then how did you get here? — B. At considerable pains I got some loaves while in the baking. — A. The devil take you! However, how many have you brought? — B. Sixteen. — A. Fetch them here. . . . — B. There are eight of the white, and as many of the grey.' A shot, says Seleucus, is the name given to bread when hot and sopped in wine. Philemon, in Complete List of Sacrifices, Book I, says that bread made of unsifted wheat and containing all the elements of the grain is called pyrnon; loaves having incisions, he says, which the Romans call 'squares,' are named blomiaioi, while bread made of bran is called brattime, or (by Amerias and Timachidas) eukonos. Moreover, Philetas, in The Unruly, speaks of a kind of bread named spoleus, which he says was eaten only within the family circle.

§ 3.82  "As for barley-cakes, one may find them also recorded in Tryphon and several other authors as well. Among the Athenians, to be sure, is the sort called physte, in which the meal is not ground very fine; but there are, besides, the 'cress' cake, the berex, the 'clews, and the Achilleum; this last is probably made of 'Achilles,' or very fine barley. There are likewise sandwich bread, wine biscuit, honeycake, and lily loaf. . . . (A dance figure for choruses under the name of 'lily' is mentioned by Apollophanes in The Bride.) The thridakiskai mentioned in Alcman are the same as the Attic sandwich bread. Alcman has it thus: 'Heaping up sandwich bread and muffins.' [115a] Sosibius, in the third book of his commentary on Alcman, says that kribana is the name given to certain breast-shaped cheese-cakes. Health is the name of the barley-cakes distributed at festivals for all to taste. Hesiod calls another kind of barley-cake amolgaia, 'a hearty barley-cake and milk from goats just running dry,' meaning the shepherd's cake full of strength; for amolgos refers to the height of vigour. But I must be excused from enumerating — since, in fact, I am not so fortunate as to remember — all the cakes and confections set forth by Aristomenes of Athens in the third book of Articles pertaining to Ceremonial. Even I, though younger, came to know this man, who was our senior. He was an actor of Old Comedy, a freedman of the highly cultivated emperor Hadrian, who called him his 'Attic partridge.'" Then Ulpian said: "'Freedman' — where is that term found?" Someone replied that there was a play by Phrynichus entitled Freedmen, and that Menander in She Who Got Slapped also speaks of a "freedwoman"; he added other instances as well. Whereupon Ulpian again asked, "How does apeleutheros ('freedman') differ from exeleutheros?" It was decided, however, to postpone this question for the present.

§ 3.83  Just as we were on the point of attacking our bread, Galen said: "We shall not dine until you have heard from us also what the sons of the Asclepiadae have to say about bread and cake and meal as well. First Diphilus of Siphnos, in the treatise on Diet for Sick and Well, declares that bread made of wheat, as compared with that made of barley, is more nourishing, more digestible, and in every way superior. In order of merit, the bread made of refined flour comes first, after that bread of ordinary wheat, and then the unbolted, made of flour that has not been sifted. These are accepted as the more nourishing. Again, Philistion of Locris says that bread made of highly refined flour tends to promote bodily vigour more than bread made of the coarse; but he rates the latter second, and after that the bread of ordinary wheat flour. Nevertheless, bread of the finest meal has a poorer flavour and less nourishment. All fresh bread is more digestible than bread that has dried up, besides being more nourishing and more juicy; further, it encourages pneumatic action and is easily assimilated. Dry bread, on the other hand, is surfeiting and hard to digest, and bread that is very old and dry has less nourishment, acts as an astringent in the bowels, and has a poor taste. Bread baked in the ashes is heavy and hard to digest because the baking is uneven. That which comes from a small oven or stove causes dyspepsia and is hard to digest. But bread made over a brazier or in a pan, owing to the admixture of oil, is easier to excrete, but steam from the drying makes it rather unwholesome. Bread baked in large ovens, however, excels in all good qualities, for it is well-flavoured, good for the stomach, easily digested, and very readily assimilated; it neither binds nor distends the bowels. The physician Andreas says that there is a kind of bread in Syria made with mulberries, the eating of which causes loss of hair. Mnesitheus declares that wheat bread is more digestible than barley-cake, and that bread made of one-seeded wheat affords more adequate nourishment, since it is digested with little trouble. But bread made of rice-wheat, if eaten too abundantly, is heavy and causes dyspepsia; wherefore they who eat it are not healthy. [116a] You must understand, too, that breadstuffs which have not been parched or ground produce winds, torpor, cramps, and headache."

§ 3.84  [116]After this lengthy discussion it was decided at last to dine, and when the hors d'oeuvre of salt fish had been passed round Leonides said: "Euthydemus of Athens, my friends, remarks in his work on Salt Meats that Hesiod has this to say about salted or pickled food: 'First in choice is the sturgeon with double-edged mouth, the fish which the rough-clad fisherfolk call the "jaw." The Bosporos, rich in salt fish, delights in it, and the people there cut the belly pieces into squares and make it into a pickle. Not inglorious in the eye of mortals, I ween, is the tribe of sharp-nosed sturgeon which jagged lumps of salt adorn either whole or sliced. Again, of tunnies, pickled in the right season, Byzantium is mother, as well as of deep-sea mackerel and well-fed swordfish, while Parium Town is a glorious nurse of Spanish mackerel. And over the Ionian wave a Bruttian or a Campanian will bring as freight from Gadeira or holy Tarentum huge tunny hearts, which are packed tightly in jars and await the beginning of dinner.' "These verses, in my opinion, come from some master cook rather than from the gifted Hesiod. For how could he know about Parium or Byzantium, to say nothing of Tarentum and the Bruttians and Campanians, when he lived many years before these places were settled? I believe, therefore, that the verses are Euthydemus's own." To this Dionysocles replied: "Who wrote the lines, good Leonides, it is for you others, famous critics as you are, to determine. Nevertheless, since we are on the subject of salt fish, I will proceed to tell what I know about it, with full details of the trade, including also a proverb which Clearchus of Soli thought worth quoting: 'Stale salt fish likes marjoram.'

§ 3.85  Now Diocles of Carystus, in his work entitled Hygiene, says that young tunny is the best among all lean varieties of salt fish, but of all fat fish the grown tunny is the best. But Hicesius records that neither young tunnies nor those called horaia are easy to digest, and further, that the flesh of young tunny resembles 'cube' tunny and hence is greatly different from all the other tunny called horaia. In like manner he says there is a great difference in the horaia of Byzantium and those caught in other places, and this is true not of tunny alone, but of all other fishes taken in Byzantium." To these remarks the Ephesian Daphnus added the following: "Archestratus, who made a voyage round the world to satisfy his stomach and appetites even lower, says: 'Eat, dear Moschus, a slice of Sicilian tunny, cut at the time when it should be salted in jars. [117a] But the shabar, a relish from Pontus, I would consign to the lowest regions, as well as all who praise it. For few there be among mortals who know that it is a poor and insipid morsel. Take, however, a mackerel three days out of the water, before it enters the pickle and while it is still new in the jar and only half-cured. And if thou go to the sacred city of glorious Byzantium, eat again, I pray you, a slice of horaion; for it is good and luscious.' "But the chef Archestratus has omitted to catalogue for us the so-called 'ivory' salt-fish mentioned by Crates, the comic poet, and The Samians. On this he says: 'Once upon a time a tortoise was stewing some ivory salt-fish in a leather bowl over a fire of pine boughs. Crabs there were, and long-feathered wolves fleet as the wind, ready to give battle to the pieces of sole-leather from the sky. Hit him! Choke him! Can you tell me, gentlemen, what day of the month it is in Ceos?' That this 'ivory salt-fish' of Crates was famous is proved by Aristophanes in Thesmophoriazusae: 'The comedians' art was still a big thing in the old days when Crates at a stroke brought into fashion the glistening ivory salt-fish which he had summoned, and giggled out countless other fancies like that.'

§ 3.86  "Alexis mentions 'raw salt-fish,' also, in The Man with a Cataract, and the same poet in The Love-lorn Lass introduces a cook who has this to say about making salt-fish: 'Nevertheless, I mean to sit down here and reckon the cost of my menu, to plan what I must get first, and how I must season each dish. First comes this piece of horaion; that cost a penny. I must wash it well. Then I will sprinkle seasoning in a casserole, place the slice in it, pour over it some white wine, stir it in oil and stew it until it is as soft as marrow, covering it generously with a garnish of silphium.' And in The Man with a Cataract one of the characters, when asked to pay his share of the club dinner, replies: 'If, however, you don't render me an account of each item in detail, you shall not get from me the twelfth part of a bronze farthing. — B. What you say is reasonable. Bring a counting-board and counters. — A. Name the items. — B. Raw salt fish, five farthings. — A. Next! — FB. Mussels, seven farthings. — A. You haven't cheated yet. Next! — B. Those sea-urchins, a ha'penny. — A. Your conscience is still clean. — B. After that, wasn't there the cabbage which you all loudly praised? — A. Yes; it was really good. — B. I paid a penny for that. — A. Why, I wonder, were we so loud in praising it? — B. The cube salt-fish cost three ha'pence. - [118a] A. A bargain, indeed! And for the endive you haven't charged a single penny! — B. You don't know, simpleton, the state of the market, and that the weevils have eaten up all green salads. — A. So that's why you have charged double for the salt-fish? — B. The fishmonger is to blame; go and ask him. Next comes a conger-eel, fivepence. — A. That's not much! Name the next. — B. I bought the baked fish for a shilling. — A. Ow! Like a fever — it leaves one, then rises high again. — B. Add the wine, of which I procured more when you were drunk; three bottles, at fivepence the bottle.'

§ 3.87  "Hicesius, in the second book of his Materials for Food, says that pelamydes are large fish-cubes. Poseidippus also mentions cubes in The Converted Philosopher. Euthydemus, in the treatise on Salt-fish, says that the delcanos is a fish named from the Delcon river, in which it is caught, and that when pickled it is very wholesome. Dorion, in his work on Fishes, when mentioning the lebias says that some declare it to be the same as the delcanos; that the crow-fish is by many called saperdes (shabar), and the beside is that which comes from the Sea of Maeotis. He says, too, the grey mullets caught off Abdera are wonderful, and next to them are the Sinopic, and when pickled they are wholesome. The fish called mullet, he says, are by some named agnotidia, by others platistakoi, being quite the same, as is also the chellaries; for this one fish has received many appellations; it is also called Dionysos and oniskos as well as chellaries. The larger are called platistakoi, those of medium age mullets, whereas the little ones areagnotidia. Mullets are mentioned by Aristophanes in The Merchantmen: 'Mackerel, Spanish mackerel, lebiae, mullets, shabar, roe tunny.'"

§ 3.88  Upon this, when Dionysocles had lapsed into silence, the scholar Varus spoke up. "Look you, the poet Antiphanes, also, mentions these pickled fish in Deucalion: 'Salt sturgeon, if one likes it, or a Gadeira tunny; and revels in the odour of a roe tunny from Byzantium.' And in The Parasite: 'In the middle a salt sturgeon, luscious, white throughout, and hot.' And so Nicostratus (or Philetaerus) in Antyllus: 'Let a Byzantian fish-slice come to our revels, and let a Gadeira belly-slice enter beside it;' and continuing, he says: 'Nay, but I haves bought from a fishmonger, a very gentlemanly fellow, Earth and the Gods are my witness, a very large piece of salt-fish with no skin on it, worth a shilling; for a penny I bought it, though we could not eat it up if we ate for three days, or even twelve; for it is huge.'" Upon this Ulpian, with a glance at Plutarch, said: "It appears that no one, sir, has mentioned in this list the Mendesian fish of you Alexandrians — fish which even a mad dog would not taste, or the excellent, half-salted varieties you have, of the pickled sheat-fish." [119a] Plutarch answered: "How does that 'half-slated' fish differ from the 'half-pickle' which your noble Archestratus mentioned above? Yet Sopater of Paphos names the half-salted in The Slavey of Mystacus, thus: 'He received a sturgeon, which the mighty Danube nurtures, the half-salt joy of Scythians.' And the same author mentions the Mendesian thus: 'There is the lovely Mendesian, too, lightly salted with care, and a mullet baked in the yellow beams of fire.' That these viands are much to be preferred to the "poll-fish" and "sweet-fish" so celebrated in your country, experienced persons know. Now tell us whether the word for salt-fish is masculine in Attic Greek; for we know that it is in Epicharmus."

§ 3.89  Anticipating his answer Myrtilus said: "Yes, Cratinus has it masculine in Dionysalexander: 'In baskets I will bring salt-fish of Pontus.' Plato, in Zeus Outraged: 'So that all I have I shall throw away on salt-fish.' Aristophanes, in The Men of Dinnerville: 'I shall not scruple to drench this poor fish with all the evils I know him to be capable of.' Crates in Wild Animals: 'You must boil some of the cabbages, and bake the fresh and salt fish, and keep your hands off us.' But a peculiar construction is found in Hermippus's Bread-Sellers, 'A fat piece of salt-fish.' Sophocles has tarichos masculine, meaning 'mummy,' in Phineus: 'Dead as an Egyptian mummy, to judge from the looks.' A diminutive form tarichion is used by Aristophanes in the Peace: 'Buy a nice little piece of salt-fish to take to the country.' So also Cephisodorus in The Pig: 'A nasty little piece of meat or salt-fish'; and Pherecrates in The Deserters: 'Meanwhile our wives are waiting for us, boiling for each some pease-porridge or lentils, and broiling a bit of orphan salt-fish.' "Epicharmus, also, has the form tarichos as a masculine. Herodotus, too, in Book IX: 'The pieces of salt-fish lying over the fire began to squirm and quiver.' So, too, the proverbs have it in the masculine: 'Broiled salt-fish, if it but see the fire, — '; 'stale salt-fish likes marjoram'; 'a piece of salt-fish will never get its deserts.' But the word is also neuter in Attic Greek, and the genitive becomes tarichous. Chionides in Beggars: 'Ye gods, would you even eat some salt-fish?' So the dative is tarichei, like xiphei. Menander in The Arbitrants: 'Over this piece of salt-fish, therefore, the two are pecking.' Also in the accusative: 'I sprinkle more salt on the salt-fish, if so it befall.' But when the word is masculine, the genitive will no longer have the s.

§ 3.90  "Now the Athenians set such store by salt-fish that they actually enrolled the sons of Chaerephilus, the salt-fish-dealer, as citizens, according to the following verses of Alexis, in Epidaurus: '(You made) the sons of Chaerephilus citizens of Athens because he introduced salt-fish. [120a] Seeing them on horseback, Timocles said they were a pair of mackerel among the satyrs.' The orator Hypereides also mentions them, and the salt-fish-dealer Euthynus is mentioned by Antiphanes in The Hairdresser thus: 'Go to the dealer in salt-fish, the one from whom it is my habit to buy when I am in luck. It is Euthynus, . . . telling off the cost of some choice morsel. Bid him cut it in a slice for me.' Pheidippus, too, for he also was a salt-fish-dealer, is mentioned by Alexis in The Scarf and in The Coffers: 'Another man there is, a foreigner Pheidippus, leader of the salt-fish battalion.'"

§ 3.91  As we ate our salt-fish many of us had a desire to drink. And Daphnus, raising his hands, said: "Heracleides of Tarentum, my friends, says in his work entitled Symposium that a 'moderate quantity of food should be eaten before drinking, and chiefly the dishes which form the ordinary courses at the beginning of a feast. For when foods are served after an interval of drinking, they counteract what settles on the stomach from the effects of wine and becomes the cause of gnawing pangs. Some even think that these are unwholesome — I mean the different kinds of green vegetables and salt-fish — possessing, as they do, a pungent quality, and that the starchy and binding foods are more suitable. They are not aware that many foods which produce loose excretions cause a wholesome reaction on those of opposite nature; among these are the so-called siser ("skirret"), mentioned by Epicharmus in The Rustic and in Earth and Sea, and by Diocles in Book I of his Hygiene; also asparagus, the white beet (for the red hinders bowel action), conchs, razor-fish, sea mussels, clams, scallops, salt-fish in perfect condition and not tainted, and different sorts of juicy-meated fish. It also is well to have an hors d'oeuvre of herbs and beets, or again of salt-fish, to provoke an appetite for what is to come, and to obviate the unequal effects of the heavier foods. Crowding all the drinks at the beginning is a practice to be avoided, for they render it hard to absorb any additional moisture.' But the Macedonians, as Ephippus of Olynthus observes in his account of the funeral of Alexander and Hephaestion, never understood how to drink in moderation, but rather drank deep at the beginning of the feast. Hence they were drunk while the first courses were still being served and could not enjoy their food.

§ 3.92  Diphilus of Siphnos says that salt-fish, whether from sea or lake or river, has little nourishment or juice; it is dry, easily digested, and provocative of appetite. The best of the lean varieties are cubes, horaia, and the like; of the fat, the tunny steaks and young tunny. When aged they are superior, being more pungent, particularly the Byzantian sorts. The tunny steak, he says, is taken from medium-sized young tunny, the smaller size resembling the cube tunny, from which class also comes the horaion. The Sardinian tunny is as large as the tuna. [121a] The mackerel is not heavy, but readily leaves the stomach. Spanish mackerel is rather purgative and pungent and has poorer flavour, but is filling. Better are the Amynclanian and the Spanish sort called Saxitanian, which are lighter and sweeter. Now Strabo, in the third book of his Geography, says that Sexitania, from which this salt-fish gets its name, is near the Isles of Heracles, opposite New Carthage; and that there is another town called Scombroaria from the mackerel caught there; from them the best fish-pickle is prepared. Then there are the so-called heart-of-oak tunny, which Epicharmus mentions thus in Odysseus the Runaway: 'Useful was the slice of heart-of-oak tunny.' Heart-of-oak is a variety of the largest-sized tunny, as Pamphilus declares in the Onomasticon, and the cuts taken from it are more oily.

§ 3.93  "Raw pickle, Diphilus continues, is by some called ketema, and is heavy and sticky, besides being hard to digest. The river crow-fish from the Nile, which some call 'crescent,' but which among the Alexandrians is known by the special name of 'half-salt,' is rather fatty, quite well-flavoured, meaty, filling, easily digested and assimilated, and in every way superior to the mullet. But the spawn of fresh and salt fish alike is hard to digest and dispose of, especially that of the fatter and larger fishes. For being harder, they remain unseparated. They become wholesome, however, when first dipped in salt and then broiled. All salt-fish should be washed until the water becomes odourless and sweet. Salt-fish cooked in sea water is sweeter, and tastes better when hot. "Mnesitheus of Athens, in his treatise on Food, says that all salt and sweet juices move the bowels, but acid and pungent juices stimulate urination; bitter juices are more diuretic, and some of them loosen the bowels; astringent juices, on the other hand (check) the excretions. But the well-informed Xenophon, in the work entitled Hieron, or The Tyrant, says in condemnation of such food as we have been describing: '"How now?" said Hieron; "have you noticed these many contraptions which are set before tyrants — acid, pungent, astringent, and their brothers?" "Indeed I have," replied Simonides, "and in my humble opinion they are very much opposed to man's nature." "Do you not think," said Hieron, "that such viands are due to the appetites of a soul debased and sick? For they who really like to eat, as you doubtless know, require none of these fancy contrivances."

§ 3.94  Thereupon Cynulcus asked for a drink of decocta, saying that he needed to wash away salty words with fountains of sweetness. To him Ulpian replied in high dudgeon, pounding the cushion with his fist: "How long are you going to utter barbarisms without ceasing? Must it be until I leave the symposium and go home, unable to stomach your words?" And the other answered: "Living at present as I do, good sir, in imperial Rome, I naturally use the language of the country. And my justification is this. Even in the ancient poets and historians, those who wrote the purest Greek, one may find Persian words adopted because of their common use in the spoken language, [122a] such as 'parasangs,' 'astands' and 'angari,' and 'schoenus,' masculine or feminine; this last is a measure of distance still so called among many people. I know, too, of many Attic writers who use idioms of the Macedonians as a result of intercourse with them. Yes, better it were for me to drink bull's blood, since Themistocles' way of dying is preferable, than to get into a fight with you. I would not, indeed, call for a drink of Bull water, for you do not know what that is; nor do you understand that even the best poets and historians have used expressions not in the best taste. Cephisodorus, for example, pupil of the orator Isocrates, in the third book of his Answer to Aristotle, says that one may find at least one or two vulgar phrases in all other poets and rhetoricians, as, for example, the 'skin every man' of Archilochus; the 'urging one's own profit while praising equality' of Theodorus; or 'my tongue hath sworn' of Euripides, and again the saying of Sophocles in The Aethiopians: 'These words of mine, then, I utter for your gratification, and not perforce; but do you yourself, like men of wisdom, praise the right while holding fast to profit.' And in another place also the same poet says that 'no word that brings profit is evil.' Again, there is Homer making Hera plot against Zeus, and Ares committing adultery, causing universal condemnation of them.

§ 3.95  If, then, I, too, have erred, O mighty hunter of noble words and phrases, be not angry. For as the Milesian poet Timotheus says: D'I sing no ancient story, for new themes are much better. New is the king now reigning, Zeus, but of old Cronus was ruler. Depart, thou Muse of the antiquated!' So, again, Antiphanes said in Alcestis: 'Speed to the fashioning of the new, this way, that way, knowing full well that one novel enterprise, even though it be overbold, is more useful than many ancient devices.' But that even the ancients know the water called by that name (not to rouse your ire again by mentioning decocta) I will make clear. As Pherecrates says in The Sham Heracles: 'A wise man, very clever in his own conceit, might say . . . but I will answer, Be not a petty quibbler, but rather, if you please, pay attention and listen to me.'" "Nay," replied Ulpian; "I beg you not to grudge us an explanation of what Bull water is. For I am athirst for all such expressions." Cynulcus replied: "Well, then, I drink to your health (since you thirst for words), taking a line from The Lady Devotee of Pythagoras, by Alexis: 'A small cup of boiled water; if he drink it raw, its sits heavily and causes pain.' Now Bull water, good friend, is so named by Sophocles in Aegeus from the Tauros River at Troezen, [123a] by the site of which there is also a spring called Hyoessa.

§ 3.96  The ancients are also acquainted with the use of very cold water in drinking healths, but I will not quote them unless you tell me in your turn whether they drank hot water at banquets. For if mixing-bowls got their name from the circumstance that water and wine were mixed in them and were thus brought on, filled to the brim, they did not light a fire under the bowls, as if they were kettles, and serve the drink hot. That they know of warm water is made clear by Eupolis in The Demes: 'Heat the bronze cauldron for us and have some sacrificial cakes cooked, that we may feed together on the entrails.' And Antiphanes in Omphale: "let me not see anyone boiling water in a kettle for me. There's nothing the matter with me. Heaven forbid! But if I get a twist in my belly or navel, I've got a charm which I bought of Phertatus for a shilling.' And in The Anointer (the play is also attributed to Alexis) he says: 'But if you bring scandal upon our workshop, then, by the dear Demeter, I will turn you out, dipping your biggest ladle deep into the cauldron of boiling water. If I fail, may I never drink the water of freedom.' So Plato in The Republic: 'Can there be desire for something additional in the soul? For instance, thirst is thirst — is it for hot water or for cold, for much or for little, in a word, for a drink qualified in any way? Or if there be any heat added to the thirst, will not that add the desire for a hot drink? Or if cold be added, the desire of a cold drink? But if, again, the thirst is great because the element of quantity is present, will that not of itself add the desire for a great quantity, or if little, the desire for a little? Surely thirst, in and for itself alone, cannot be the desire for anything other than what it thirsts for, that is, a drink unqualified, and hunger, again, cannot be the desire for anything else than mere food, can it?' "Semos of Delos, in the second book of the Island History, says that in the island of Cimolos underground refrigerators are constructed in summer, where the people store jars full of warm water and draw them out again as cold as snow. This warm water the Athenians call metakeras ('lukewarm'). Thus Sophilus in Androcles, and Alexis in The Locrians: 'The two slave-girls poured in water, the one hot, the other lukewarm.' So Philemon in The Woman of Corinth, Amphis, too, in The Bath: 'One bawled aloud for somebody to bring him hot water, while another called for lukewarm.'"

§ 3.97  While the Cynic was on the point of piling other instances upon these, Pontianus said: "The ancients, dear friends, knew also of the use of very cold water in drinking. Alexis, at any rate, says in The Parasite: 'Indeed, I want you to taste that water; for I have a wonderful well in the house, more frigid than Araros.' Hermippus also mentions well-water thus in the Cercopes. . . . And that they also drank snow is shown by what Alexis says in The Woman who drank Belladonna: 'And so, is not man a fussy creature, always indulging in things which are quite contrary to each other? [124a] We love strangers while neglecting our own kin; we may be poor, yet rich in our neighbours' wealth. When we bring our contributions to a club dinner we do it in niggardly spirit. Again, when we come to our regular daily food we require that our barley-cake be white, yet take pains that the broth which goes with it be black, and stain the fine colour of the cake with the dye. We manage, too, to get snow to drink, but scold if the entree be not hot. Sour wine, again, we spit out, but go into ecstasies over a vinegar salad. The saying, then, of many wise men holds good: Best it is not to be born at all, but if one be born, let him die with all speed.' "So Dexicrates, in the play entitled Self-deceivers, says: 'Yet if I get drunk and drink snow, and know that Egypt produces the best perfume, (what difference does it make?') And Euthycles, in Wastrels, or The Letter: "He is the first to discover whether snow may be had in the market, and he must be the first, at all costs, to eat the new honeycomb.' Even the excellent Xenophon, in the Memorabilia, knows of the use of snow in drinking, and Chares of Mitylene, in his Records of Alexander, tells how to keep snow, when he recounts the siege of the Indian capital Petra. He says that Alexander dug thirty refrigerating pits which he filled with snow and covered with oak boughs. In this way, he says, snow will last a long time.

§ 3.98  "That they also chilled wine in order to drink it rather cold is shown by Strattis in Keeping Cool: 'No man would prefer to drink wine hot; rather one likes it chilled in the well or mixed with snow.' So also Lysippus in The Bacchants: 'A. What's the matter, Hermon? How are we getting on? — B. How else than this? The pater has sunk me down the well, methinks, as one sinks wine in summer time.' And Diphilus, in The Souvenir, says: 'Chill the wine, Doris!' Protagorides, in the second book of his Comic Histories, when recounting the voyage of King Antiochus down the Nile, has something to say about ingenious contrivances to get cold water. His words are these: 'During the day they place the water in the sun, and when night comes they strain the thick sediment and again expose the water to the air in earthen jars set on the highest part of the house, while throughout the entire night two slaves wet down jars with water. At dawn they take the jars downstairs, and again drawing off the sediment, they thus make the water clear and in every way healthful. They then place the jars in heaps of chaff, and thereafter use it without the need of snow or anything else whatever.' "Cistern water is mentioned by Anaxilas in The Flute-player thus: 'This also, from the cistern water in my house, consider at your disposal.' [125a] And again: 'Maybe the water in my cistern has given out.' Apollodorus of Gela mentions also the cistern itself, using our word for it, in The Woman who left her Husband: 'In your wild tantrums you have untied the bucket in the cistern and used the well-rope for your purpose.'

§ 3.99  When Myrtilus heard this he said: "Being a salt-fish devotee, comrades, I would like to drink snow in imitation of Simonides." To this Ulpian said: "The expression 'salt-fish devotee,' to be sure, is found in the Omphale of Antiphanes: 'I am by no means a salt-fish devotee, my girl;' and Alexis in Government by Women also calls a character 'salt-fish stew' in these lines: 'this Cilician Hippocles here, this salt-fish stew of an actor.' But what you mean by 'in imitation of Simonides' I do not know." "No, you glutton, for you have no interest in history, replied Myrtilus. "You are a licker of fat, and as the old Samian poet Asius has it, you would 'toady for a bit of fat.' Callistratus, in the seventh book of Miscellanies, says that the poet Simonides was once dining with some friends 'at the season of mighty heat,' and when the cup-bearers mixed snow in the wine of the rest of the company, but not in his, he improvised the following epigram: 'The snow with which swift Boreas, rising in Thrace, covers the sides of Olympus, and which gnaws the spirit of men unclad, and encircles and clothes as a girdle the Pierian land — of that snow let someone pour even into my cup a share. For it is not seemly that one should raise to the lips a hot drink to toast a friend.'" So, then, after Myrtilus had drunk, Ulpian again asked "Where do you find the word 'fat-licker,' and what are the verses of Asius about 'toadying for a bit of fat'?" "Well," said Myrtilus, "the verses of Asius are as follows: 'Lame, branded, wizened with age — like a beggar he came, toadying for a bit of fat, when Meles celebrated his wedding. Uninvited though he was, he was bent on having some broth, and in the midst of them he stood, a ghost rising from the mire.' But the word 'fat-licker' is in the Philarchus of Sophilus: 'You're a gourmand and a fat-licker.' Also in the play entitled Running-mates, he has 'fat-licking' in these lines: 'For the brothel-keeper in his fat-licking greed told me to make him a blood sausage like this you see.' Antiphanes, also, mentions the 'fat-licker' in The Bumble-bee. "They also drank sweet wine while still eating dinner, as Alexis shows in Dropides: 'The girl came in, carrying the sweet wine in a silver cup which had a wide flare, very pretty to look at. It was neither bowl nor saucer, but partook of the shape of both.'"

§ 3.100  Next there was brought in a flat pudding made of milk, meal-cakes, and honey; the Romans call it libum. [126a] And Cynulcus said: "Stuff yourself, Ulpian, with your native chthorodlapsum, a word, as Demeter is my witness, which is not recorded in any ancient writer, unless it be the historians of Phoenicia, your compatriots Sanchuniathon and Mochos." Ulpian answered: "enough of honey-cakes, you dog-fly! Yet I should be glad to eat a pudding generously filled with the scales or the kernels of pine cones."And when it was brought he said, "Give me a mystile; for I will not use the word mystron, . . . which is not found in any author before our time." "Strange that you should be so forgetful," said Aemilianus. "Are you not the one who have always admired the epic poet, Nicander of Colophon, for his learning and love of the antique? Did you not cite his mention of pepper? Well, he is the very one who uses the word mystron when describing the use of the word 'pudding,' in the first of his two books on Farming. His words are these: 'But when you prepare a dish of fresh-killed kid or lamb or capon, sprinkle some groats in a hollow bowl and pound them well, then stir in a fragrant oil, well mixed. When the broth is boiling hard, pour it over the meal, put the lid on the pan, and smother it; for when it is stewed in this way, the heavy meal swells up. Serve it when mildly warm in hollow mystra.' In these terms — strange that you should forget them! — Nicander indicates the use of pudding and barley-groats, directing that a broth of lamb or kid or fowl be poured over it. To repeat his words: pound the groats in a mortar, mix oil with it and stir it in the broth when it begins to boil. When, after these preliminaries, the mixture actively boils up again, it should be stirred with the ladle without adding any other ingredient; simply spoon it off as it is, to prevent any of the rich fat at the top from boiling over. That is why he says 'put on the lid and cover the boiling liquid'; for the meal swells up when it is smothered in this way. Finally, when it has cooled to a mild heat, eat it with hollow pieces of bread. And what is more: Hippolochus of Macedon, in the letter to Lynceus in which he describes a Macedonian dinner surpassing in sumptuousness any that had ever been given anywhere, even mentions gold spoons (mystra) given to each guest. And since you are so fond of the antique and refuse to speak any word not in the Attic dialect, let me ask you, friend, what Nicophon, poet of the Old Comedy, has to say in Hand-to-mouth Toilers. For I find him also mentioning spoons when he says: 'Anchovy-peddlers, charcoal-peddlers, dried-fig-peddlers, hide-peddlers, Fbarley-peddlers, spoon-peddlers, book-peddlers, sieve-peddlers, sweet-cake-peddlers, seed-peddlers.' For what else can mystriopolaebe than 'spoon-sellers'? Having learnt, then, my noble Syro-Atticist, the use of the word for spoon from these examples, eat your fill of the pudding, the you may not have to say, 'I am weak and faint.'

§ 3.101  "I am also surprised that you have not asked where 'pudding' comes from. [127a] Is it from Megara or Thessaly, the home of Myrtilus?" And Ulpian said: "I will stop eating while you tell me in what authors these puddings are mentioned." Then Aemilianus said: "Well, I don't mind doing it. For as I look upon this magnificent dinner, I am quite willing that you, having had your fill of pudding, should raise your crest like a cock and instruct us concerning the dishes which we are going to share." But Ulpian, in some vexation, replied, "Dishes, indeed! Are we never to get a rest from putting some question to these upstart pedants?" "None the less," replied Aemilianus, "I am going to render you an account of this word, too. I will begin the discussion of pudding by citing these lines from the Anteia of Antiphanes: 'A. Whatever have you got in those baskets, my dear? — B. In three of them there are noble Megarian puddings. — A. But don't they say that the best come from Thessaly? — B. Yes, . . . and from Phoenicia comes the finest-sifted wheat flour.' But this same play is also ascribed to Alexis, with very divergent readings in a few passages. Alexis again, in The Love-lorn Lass: 'We've got a lot of Thessalian pudding in the house.' But Aristophanes uses the word 'pudding' of something sopped up like gruel, in The Men of Dinnerville: 'Or, when he cooked gruel, he would put a fly in it and offer it to be sopped up.' "Very fine wheat flour, under the name semidalis, is mentioned by Strattis in The Man-handler and by Alexis in Fair Measure, even though I cannot quote the lines in testimony. The genitive semidalidos occurs in the same play of Strattis: 'and the twin offspring of fine wheat.' Edesmata, meaning 'dishes,' are mentioned by Antiphanes in The Twins thus: 'I have enjoyed many fine dishes, drunk three or maybe four healths, and had rather a glorious time, devouring victuals enough for four elephants.'" So let this book come to an end, concluding with this discourse on "dishes." We shall begin our banquet in what follows. "Not so, Athenaeus; not at least until you have related to us the story of the Macedonian symposium as told by Hippolochus." Well, if that is your desire, Timocrates, let us order it so.

§ 4.1   [128a] BOOK IV
Hippolochus the Macedonian, friend Timocrates, was a contemporary of the Samians Lynceus and Duris, who were disciples of Theophrastus of Eresus; and he had made this agreement with Lynceus — as we may learn from his letters — that he should without fail describe to him any sumptuous banquet at which he might be present, Lynceus pledging him the same in return. Accordingly there are extant "banquet letters" of both writers, Lynceus describing a dinner given at Athens in honour of King Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, by the Athenian flute-player Lamia, who was the mistress of Demetrius; while Hippolochus describes the nuptials of Caranus the Macedonian. And there are other letters also of Lynceus which we have seen, written to the same Hippolochus, one describing the banquet of King Antigonus when he celebrated the festival of Aphrodite at Athens, another the banquet of King Ptolemy. We will give you the letters just as they are; and since that of Hippolochus is rarely encountered, I will run through its contents for your present amusement and entertainment.

§ 4.2   In Macedonia, as I have already said, Caranus celebrated his marriage with a banquet at which the number of men invited to gather was twenty; no sooner had they taken their places on the couches, than they were presented with silver cups, one for each, to keep as their own. Each guest, also, had been crowned before he entered with a gold tiara, worth, every one of them, five gold staters. And after they had emptied their cups, they were each given a bronze platter of Corinthian manufacture, containing a loaf as wide as the platter; also chickens and ducks, and ringdoves, too, and a goose, and an abundance of suchlike viands piled high; and each guest took his portion, platter and all, and distributed it among the slaves who stood behind him. Many other things to eat were handed round in great variety, following which came a second platter of silver, on which again lay a huge loaf, and geese, hares, young goats, and curiously moulded cakes besides, pigeons, turtle-doves, partridges, and other fowl in plenty. "This all," he says, "we presented to the slaves in addition, and when we had had enough of food we washed our hands. Then numerous chaplets were brought in, made of all kinds of flowers, and in addition to them all were gold tiaras, equal in weight to the first chaplet."

§ 4.129   [129a] On top of these viands, Hippolochus says that Proteas, descendant of that Proteas who was the son of Lanice — the same who had been the nurse of King Alexander — drank a great deal (for he was given to drinking, like his grandfather Proteas, Alexander's comrade), and toasted everybody. Hippolochus then continues with the following:

§ 4.3   "When we had at last pleasantly taken leave of all sobriety, there entered flute-girls and singers and some Rhodian sambuca-players. To me these girls looked quite naked, but some said that they had on tunics. And after a prelude they withdrew. Then came in other girls carrying each two jars fastened together with a gold band and containing perfume; one jar was silver, the other gold, and held half a pint. These also they gave to each guest. After that there was brought in a fortune rather than a dinner, namely a silver platter gilded all over to no little thickness, and large enough to hold the whole of a roast pig — a big one, too — which lay on its back upon it; the belly, seen from above, disclosed that it was full of many bounties. For, roasted inside it, were thrushes, ducks, and warblers in unlimited number, pease puree poured over eggs, oysters, and scallops; all of which, towering high, was presented to each guest, platters and all. After this we drank, and then received a kid, piping hot, again upon another platter as large as the last, with spoons of gold. Seeing, therefore, our embarrassment, Caranus ordered baskets and bread-racks made of plaited ivory strips to be given us, at which we applauded the bridegroom with delight for having rescued our gifts. Then more crowns again, and a double-jar of gold and silver containing perfume, equal in weight to the first. Quiet being restored, there trooped in men who would have graced even the religious observances at the Athenian Feast of Pots. After them entered ithyphallic dancers, clowns, and some naked female jugglers who performed tumbling acts among swords, and blew fire from their mouths.

§ 4.4   After we had finished with them, our attention was next engrossed in a warm and almost neat drink, the wines at our disposal being Thasian, Mendaean, and Lesbian; and very large gold cups were handed to each guest. After this draught we were all presented with a crystal platter about two cubits in diameter, lying in a silver receptacle and full of a collection of all kinds of baked fish; also a silver bread-rack containing Cappadocian loaves, of which we ate some and gave the rest to the slaves. Then we washed our hands and put on crowns, again receiving gold tiaras twice the size of those we had before, and another double-jar of perfume. "When all was quiet, Proteas jumped up from his couch and demanded a six-pint bowl, and filling it with Thasian wine with just a dash of water he drank it all saying, 'He that drinks most shall have least sorrow.' And Caranus said, 'Since you have been the first to drink, be the first also to receive the bowl as a gift; and this shall be the meed of all the others who drink.' At these words 'all the nine rose up' and seized a bowl, each striving to get ahead of the other. But one unfortunate, who of all our companions was unable to drink, sat up and wept at his bowlless state, until Caranus made have a present of the cup unfilled. [130a] After this a chorus of one hundred men entered singing tunefully a wedding hymn; then came in dancing-girls, some attired as Nereids, others as Nymphs.

§ 4.5   While then our merrymaking was proceeding, and the late hour was beginning to bring darkness, they threw open the room, which had been curtained all about with white linen; and when this was drawn back, the barriers being let down by a hidden contrivance, there rose to our view torches: Cupids and Dianas, Pans and Hermae and many similar figures held the lights in silver brackets. While we were admiring this artistic device, veritable Erymanthian boars were served to each guest, on square platters rimmed with gold; they were skewered with silver spears. The wonderful thing about it was, that though relaxed and heavy with wine, as soon as we saw any of these things introduced we all became sober enough to stand on our feet, as the saying is. "Well, the slaves began to stuff our happy baskets full until the customary signal for concluding the banquet was sounded on the trumpet; for this, as you know, is the Macedonian practice at dinners attended by many guests. Then Caranus, leading off the drinking in small cups, ordered the slaves to circulate them quickly. We, therefore, sipped them gently as an antidote to the drinking of unmixed wine which had gone before. Meanwhile, the clown Mandrogenes had come in, a descendant, so they say, of the celebrated Athenian clown Straton. He caused many a loud laugh among us by his jokes, and afterwards danced with his wife, who was over eighty years old. And last there came in the concluding courses; that is, dessert in ivory baskets, and flat cakes of every variety, Cretan and your own Samian, friend Lynceus, and Attic, were given to all as a present along with the boxes in which they were separately packed. So, after this, we arose and took our leave, quite sober — the gods be my witness! — because we were apprehensive for the safety of the wealth we took with us. But you, staying in Athens, think it happiness rather to listen to the precepts of Theophrastus, eating wild thyme and rocket-seed and your esteemed rolls while you attend the festivals of the Lenaea and the Pots! We, however, have carried away a fortune from Caranus's banquet instead of trifling portions, and are now looking for houses or lands or slaves to buy."

§ 4.6   With this example before our eyes, friend Timocrates, what Greek banquet can you compare with the symposium just described? Why, even Antiphanes, the comic poet, once said disparagingly in the Oinomaus (or Pelops): "But what could leaf-chewing Greeks, scant of table, accomplish? Among them you can get only four little pieces of meat for a ha'penny. But among our ancestors they used to roast whole oxen, swine, deer, and lambs. Lately our cook roasted a monster entire and served the Great King with a — hot camel." So, too, Aristophanes in The Acharnians dilates on the magnificence of the Persians: "ENVOY: And then he entertained us, serving us [131a] with whole oxen from the oven. — DICAEOPOLIS: And who ever saw oven-roasted oxen? What humbug! — ENVOY: Yes, I swear it by Zeus, he also set before us a fowl three times as big as Cleonymus; and its name was Cheat." And Anaxandrides, ridiculing in Protesilaus the symposium at Iphicrates' wedding, when he married the daughter of the Thracian king Cotys, says:

§ 4.7   "And if you do that as I tell you, we will entertain you with a brilliant banquet, quite unlike that of Iphicrates in Thrace; and yet they say that was a grand swagger? Over the market-place were spread purple rugs down to where his pinnace lay. At the dinner were your butter-eating gentry, with unkempt hair and in countless numbers. The kettles were bronze and bigger than cellars containing a dozen beds. Cotys himself had an apron on, and brought the soup in a gold pitcher; and what with tasting the wine in the mixing-bowls he got drunk before the guests did. Flute music was furnished them by Antigeneidas, singing by Argas, harp music by Cephisodotus of Acharnae; and in their lays they celebrated, now Sparta with its broad acres, now Thebes again, the seven-gated, interchanging their themes. And the groom, 'twas said, received as dower two droves of chestnut mares, a herd of goats, a golden sack and a wastrel cup, a pitcher of snow, a pot of millet, a bin of bulbs, twelve cubits deep, and a hecatomb of octopuses. In this wise, they say, Cotys made a marriage for Iphicrates in Thrace. But in our master's house the feast shall be far more imposing and brilliant than that. For what does our house lack, what good things fail? Surely not perfumes from Syrian myrrh, the breath of frankincense, visions of tender-flaked barley cakes, wheat bread, fine meal cakes, octopuses, entrails, suet, sausages, soup, beets, stuffed fig-leaves, pease porridge, garlic, anchovies, mackerel, wine sops, barley gruel, Egyptian groats, beans, vetch, pulse, kidney-beans, honey, cheese, haggis, beestings, walnuts, groats, broiled crawfish, boiled mullet, boiled cuttle-fish, a murry boiled, gobios boiled, baked roe-tunny, boiled wasse, angler-fish, perch, dentet, hake, ray, sole, dogfish, piper, shad, skate, electric-ray, monk-fish steaks, honeycomb, grapes, figs, flat-cakes, apples, cornel-nuts, pomegranates, thyme, poppy, pears, sour thistle, olives, olive-cake, milk-cakes, leeks, horn-onions, onions, raised barley-bread, bulbs, cauliflowers, silphium, vinegar, fennel, eggs, lentils, grasshoppers, rennet, cress, sesame, tritons, salt, pinnas, limpets, mussels, oysters, scallops, tunny; and besides all this, fowls in number too great to tell: ducks, pigeons, geese, sparrows, thrushes, larks, jays, swans, pelican, wagtails, crane — B. May she give a good push through the tail and the ribs of this gaping fool and crack his skull! A. But there are wines for you — white, sweet, native, of mild bouquet or smoky."

§ 4.8  Lynceus, also ridiculing Athenian dinners in The Centaur, says: "I say, cook! He who is to offer sacrifice and entertain me is a Rhodian, while I, who am the guest, come from Perinthus. Neither of us likes an Athenian dinner. There is a revolting quality in things Attic as in things foreign. [132a] For the cook sets before you a large tray on which are five small plates. One of these holds garlic, another a pair of sea-urchins, another a sweet wine-sop, another ten cockles, the last a small piece of sturgeon. While I am eating this, another is eating that; and while he is eating that, I have made away with this. What I want, good sir, is both the one and the other, but my wish is impossible. For I have neither five mouths nor five right hands. Such a lay-out as that seems to offer variety, but is nothing at all to satisfy the belly. For simply bespatter my lips, I don't fill them. What, then, have you? — THE COOK. A lot of oysters. — A. You shall serve me a plate of them, all by itself, and not a small one, either. Have you sea-urchins? — COOK. Yes, of these you shall have a second course. For I bought them myself, fourpence worth. — A. This then is the one dish you shall serve by itself, that all may eat it alike — not I one thing, my companion another." Hegesander of Delphi narrates that the parasite Dromeas, when asked by someone whether he got better dinners in town or in Chalcis, replied that the prelude to a dinner in Chalcis was more delightful than the entire lay-out of a town dinner, meaning by prelude the great quantity and variety of shell-fish.

§ 4.9   And Diphilus, in The Woman who left her Husband, introduces a cook whom he represents as saying: "How many guests, sir, are invited to the wedding? Are they all Athenians, or are there also foreign merchants? — B. How does that concern you, who are the cook? — A. That is the chief part of my art, master, to know beforehand what mouths are going to eat. Suppose you have invited Rhodians: no sooner have they entered, than you must give them the largest sheat-fish or 'lebias' to enjoy, served piping hot. They will like that better than if you poured scented water over their hands. — EB. Ay, their sheat-eating is a nice custom. — A. Or suppose they are Byzantians, soak all you serve to them in bitters, with quantities of salt and garlic. For they have so many fish in their part of the world that they are clammy and full of phlegm." So Menander in Trophonius: "The dinner is in honour of a stranger. — B. Who? Where does he come from? For that makes a difference to the cook. These little island strangers, for example, are brought up on all kinds of fish just out of the water, and so they are not at all attracted by preserved fish; if they take it at all, they do without zest, and welcome more gladly forcemeats and highly seasoned dishes. Your Arcadian, on the other hand, living far from the sea, is caught by oyster-bait, while the Ionian, bloated with wealth, makes his chief dish of pilaf, and foods that provoke desire."

§ 4.10   For the ancients employed dishes to whet the appetite, [133a] such as olives in brine, which they call kolymbades ("divers"). Aristophanes, at any rate, says in Old Age: "Do you, master, love the ladies who are over-ripe or the virginal ones with bodies firm as olives steeped in brine?" And Philemon in The Pursuer, or Soupy: "How did the boiled fish look to you? — B. 'Twas small, do you understand? And there was brine, white and thick beyond belief, and no smell of pan or condiments. And all cried out, 'What a good pickle you make!'" They used to eat even grasshoppers and cicadas as an incentive to appetite. Thus Aristophanes in Anagyrus: "Good Heavens, how I yearn to eat a grasshopper and a cicada (cercope) caught on a thin reed." Now the cercope is an animal like a cicada, or titigonion, as Speusippus describes them in the second book of his Similars. Epilycus mentions them in Coraliscus. Alexis in Thrason says: "Never have I seen such a chatterbox as you, woman, be it cicada or magpie, nightingale or swallow, turtle-dove or grasshopper." And Nicostratus in The Pet: "The first platter, leading the main courses, will contain a sea-urchin, some raw smoked fish, capers, a wine-sop, a slice of meat, and a bulb in sour sauce."

§ 4.11   But they also ate as an appetizer turnips done in vinegar and mustard, as Nicander plainly shows in the second book of the Georgics; for he says: "Of turnip and cabbage, in truth, two families appear in our gardens, long and solid. The latter you wash and dry in the north wind, and they are welcome in winter even to the idle stay-at homes; for soaked in warm water they come to life again. But the other, the turnip roots, you cut in thin slices, gently cleaning away the undried outer skin, and after drying them in the sun a little, either dip a quantity of them in boiling water and soak them in strong brine; or again, put equal parts of white must and vinegar in a jar together, then plunge the slices in it, having dried them off with salt. Often, too, you may pound raisins and biting mustard-seeds with a pestle and add it to them. When cream of tartar forms, and the top grows more and more bitter, then 'tis time to draw off the pickle for those who seek their dinner." Diphilus (or Sosippus) says in The Woman who left her Husband: — A. "Have you got sharp vinegar in the house? — B. I fancy so, slave, and we have bought rennet. All this will I squeeze thick together in a nice dish for them, and the salad with sour dressing shall be served for all. For such condiments must speedily rouse the sensory organs of men when they are old, dispel the sloth and bluntness of their desire, and make them glad to eat."

§ 4.12   [134a] Alexis in The Tarentines says that the Athenians have but to take a sip of wine at the symposia to make them dance: "Yes, you must know that that is the native custom in fair Athens. They all begin to dance the moment they glimpse the smell of wine. You'd say you were looking upon some strange mishap should you suddenly join the company. Now for the young, perhaps, there is some grace in it; but when I see that charlatan Theodotus, or the foul parasite, frisking and rolling the whites of his eyes the while, I'd gladly take and nail him to the gallows." Possibly Antiphanes also, in The Carians, may be referring to the Athenian custom of dancing when he ridicules a sophist for dancing during dinner in these words: "Don't you see that reprobate dancing with his arms? No shame feels he, the expounder of Heracleitus, the sole discoverer of the art of Theodectas, and the author of a compendium of Euripides." To this quotation one might add not inappropriately these words of Eriphus the comic poet in Aeolus: "For there is an ancient proverb not untrue: they say that wine, my father, persuades old men to dance against their will." And Alexis in the play entitled Fair Measure says: "At a subscription-dinner they were drinking with an eye only for the dancing and nothing else; and they took the names of dainties and foods — Relish, Prawn, Gudgeon, and Wheat-flour."

§ 4.13   "An Attic dinner," said Plutarch, "is described not unwittily by Matron, the writer of parodies, and because of its rarity I shall not hesitate, my friends, to quote it for you: 'Sing, Muse, of the dinners, many and plenteous, which Xenocles the orator offered us in Athens. For even thither I went, and great hunger came with me. There I beheld fair, large loaves whiter than snow, like finest meal cakes to the taste. For them also did Boreas yearn when they were baking. And Xenocles himself went in review through the ranks of the heroes, but stood still when he came to the threshold. And near him was the parasite Chaerephon, like unto a hungry sea-gull; empty he was, but well acquainted with dinners furnished by others. Thereupon the cooks filled the tables and brought them in — the cooks to whose rule the mighty Heaven of Kitchens is committed, either to hasten the hour of dinner or retard it. Thereupon, all the others laid hands on the green herbs, but I did not follow them; rather, I ate of all solid viands - [135a] bulbs and asparagus and meaty oysters, avoiding raw smoked fish, that dish for Phoenicians. And forth I dashed down sea-urchins with head-dress of streaming spines, which resounded as they rolled among the slaves' feet in an open space, where the waves surged upon the beach, and many were the spines I pulled by the roots from their heads. Then came the Phaleric anchovy, darling of Triton, holding her soiled veil before her face . . . and they were loved of the Cyclops and grew on the mountains. Then came one bringing pinnas, in ringing bowls, which the white foaming waters nurture on a rock streaming with sea-weed. A sole with thick cartilage, and a red-cheeked mullet came too; and upon it I was among the first to lay a hand with strong nail. But I was not quick enough to wound it, for Phoebus Apollo did me a hurt. But when I saw Stratocles, stern master of the rout, holding the head of the horse-taming mullet in his hands, then did I quickly seize it with joy, and tore open its insatiable throat. And there came the daughter of Nereus, silver-footed Thetis, the fair-tressed cuttle, dread goddess with voice of mortal, who of all fish alone knows the difference between black and white. I saw Tityus, too, glorious conger-eel of the marshy lake, lying in the casseroles; and its length covered nine tables. In its tracks followed the white-armed goddess-fish, the eel, who boasted that she had lain in Zeus' embrace, from the Copaic Lake whence comes the race of wild eels. Of mighty size was she, and two men who contend for prizes, such as Astyanax and Antenor were, could not have lifted her easily from the ground into a cart. For they measured nine cubits and three spans in width, and they were nine fathoms long. Oft did the cook go back and forth throughout the room, balancing on right shoulder the platters covered with dainties, and forty black kettles followed him close, while from Euboea there marched in close array as many casseroles. Came, too, the windswift messenger Iris, the fleet squid, and the flower-dotted perch and plebeian black-tail, which, mortal though he was, was companion of fishes immortal. But alone and apart, wroth at the loss of his armour, stood the head of the tunny, son of Lurkhole; and the gods had made it a bane to men. The monk-fish, which carpenters love extravagantly, was there — the rough but kindly nourisher of the young; I shall never behold anything sweeter than its flesh. There entered, too, that doughty knight, baked mullet, yet not alone; for a dozen sargs followed in close company. After them came a mighty blue-skinned bonito, which knows the depths of every sea, Poseidon's henchman. [136a] And prawns there were, theme of Olympian Zeus's song, which were crooked with age, but good to eat. The gilt-head was there, the fairest fish amid all others, the crawfish too, and the lobster eager to arm for the fray at the feasts of the Blessed. Upon them the feasters laid hands and put them to their mouths, pulling them this way and that. Their leader was the lordly elops, glorious in battle, for which sated though I was, I stretched forth a lusty hand, eager to taste of it; and it seemed to me as ambrosia, on which feast the blessed gods that live for ever. Then the cook brought and added to our store a murry which covered the table, and the girdle which she wore with pride about her neck, what time she wed the high-souled son of Dracon. Sandals, again he placed beside us, everliving offspring of immortal goddesses, and a sole, which dwelt in the roaring brine; then lusty wasse in order, high-flying, which feed among rocks, and watery piglings. And mingled with all were sargs and horse-tails and sheats, and opposite a sea bream, a hake and a sargus. These the cook brought in and placed steaming beside us, and filled all the house with their savour. On them he urged us to feast; but to me, at least, they seemed to be food for womenfolk, and soon I was borne on to other kinds. Now there lay a dish, which none at the dinner had touched, where in an open space rose to view the place of the saucepans. . . . Next came a blackbird for me, who sat ready to eat it; nor, to be sure, was it untouched, for others yearned for it too. And a ham I saw, and no sooner saw than I trembled; and near it lay the sweetened mustard, yellow as gold, but forbidding one to take too much. And when I had tasted I wept that on the morrow I should not see it again, but must content myself with cheese and the faithful barley-cake. 'But my belly could not hold out, for it was overcome with pains; the black broth overpowered it, and the boiled pigs' feet as well. But a slave brought from Salamis thirteen fat ducks from the sacred lake, which the cook took and placed where the Athenian phalanxes were posted. And Chaerephon, directing his mind forward and back, recognized the birds, and perceived that they were auspicious for eating. So he ate like a lion, but in his fist he kept a lamb's leg, that he might have wherewith to sup at evening when he went home. And there was a gruel of pleasant aspect which Hephaestus had laboured to boil, cooking it in an Attic bowl for thirteen months. Then when they had banished desire for the delicious supper, and had laved their hands in the streams of Ocean, a lovely boy entered and brought to them sweet unguent of orris-root; [137a] another, again, gave chaplets to all from left to right, which were intertwined with the rose and variously adorned. And a bowl of the Bromian god was mixed, and Lesbian wine was drunk, man vying with man to drink the most of it. Anon the "second tables" were loaded to the full, and upon them were pears and luscious apples, pomegranates and grapes, nurses of the Bromian god, and that freshly gathered grape which they call "vine-bower." But of them I ate nothing at all, for I lay back, too full. Yet, when I saw the brown, sweet, mighty, round, well-grown child of Demeter enter, a baked flat-cake, how could I abstain from that divine flat-cake? . . . But nay; not if I had ten hands and ten mouths, belly that could not burst, and a heart of bronze within me. Then there entered two trick girls, filles de joie, driven like swift birds by Stratocles.'"

§ 4.14  Alexis, by way of ridiculing Attic dinners, in Running-Mates: "I want to hire two cooks, the cleverest that I can find in all the town. For I intend to feast a man from Thessaly, not in any Attic fashion; and I must not stretch the gentleman on the rack of famine by stingily setting before him each little dish separately, but (I will serve it all together) in the grand style." Thessalians, on the other hand, do set really luxurious tables, as Eriphus declares in The Peltast in these words: "Such dainties, O Syrian, not Corinth nor Lais ever served, nor are they even the fare set on bounteous tables of Thessalian hosts, of which this hand of mine has often had its share." Whoever wrote Beggars, generally attributed to Chionides, says that when the Athenians set before the Dioscuri a collation in the town-hall, they place upon the tables "cheese and a barley-puff, ripe olives, and leeks," in memory of their ancient discipline. Solon prescribes that a barley-cake be served to all who dine at the Prytaneion, but that a wheat loaf may be added on feast days, thus following Homer. For the latter, when he gathers the nobles before Agamemnon, says that "barley-meal was mixed." And so Chrysippus, in the fourth book of the treatise On Pleasure and the Good says: "It is recorded that at Athens two banquets of not very ancient date were celebrated in the Lyceum and in the Academy. Once, at the Academy feast, a fancy cook brought in a casserole intended for another use, whereupon the sacrificants broke the dish because an act of smuggling had been committed not tolerated by the city, it being obligatory to abstain from such far-fetched importations. At the Lyceum, again, the cook who had brought in some salt meat which he had made over in imitation of salt-fish was flogged for playing the impostor with his over-refinement." [138a] And Plato, in the second book of the Republic, thus portrays his new citizens at dinner when he writes: "'It would appear,' he said, 'that you represent your men as feasting without any relish.' 'Quite true," I said; 'I forgot that they will have a relish also, such as salt, of course, and olives, and cheese; and they will cook bulbs and green vegetables, the sort of which they make boiled dishes in the country. And we will set before them dessert, I suppose, figs and chick-peas and beans, and they will toast myrtle-berries and beech-nuts before the fire, sipping their wine in moderation the while. Thus will they spend their lives, peacefully and healthily, and in all probability will die in old age and transmit a similar mode of life to their offspring.'"

§ 4.15   Next we must speak also of Spartan symposia. Now Herodotus, in the ninth book of his Histories, speaking of Mardonius's tent and mentioning by the way the Spartan banquets, says: "When Xerxes fled from Greece he left behind the royal pavilion for Mardonius. Pausanias, therefore, when he saw the tent of Mardonius adorned with gold and silver and embroidered tapestries, commanded the bakers and fancy cooks to prepare a dinner exactly as they would for Mardonius. When they had done his bidding, Pausanias, seeing the gold and silver divans spread with coverings, and silver tables and a magnificent outlay for the dinner, in amazement at what was set before him, ordered in jest his own servants to prepare a Spartan dinner. And when it was ready, Pausanias laughed and sent for the Greek generals. On their arrival he pointed to the preparations made for each of the dinners and said: 'Men of Greece, I have gathered you together because I wish to show you the folly of the Median commander who, with all his luxury of living, came to attack us who are so poor.' And some say that a Sybarite who had sojourned in Sparta and had been entertained among them at their public mess remarked: 'It is no wonder that Spartans are the bravest men in the world; for anyone in his right mind would prefer to die ten thousand times rather than share in such poor living.'"

§ 4.16  Polemon, commenting on the wicker carriage mentioned in Xenophon, cites Cratinus as mentioning in The Plutuses the feast at Sparta which is called Kopis ("Cleaver"). He says: "Is it then true, as they say, that yonder in Sparta all strangers who arrive are richly feasted at the Cleaver, and that in the public lounges sausages hang nailed to the walls for the old men to bite off with their teeth?' And Eupolis in The Helots: ". . . and the Cleaver be celebrated in honour of these men today." The Cleaver is a dinner of a special sort, as is also that which is called the aiklon. Whenever they celebrate the Cleaver they first cause to be constructed booths beside the temple of the god, and in them they place rough couches of wood; upon these they spread rugs, on which they hospitably entertain all who have placed themselves in a reclining posture there — not merely persons who arrive from our country, but also any foreigners who have come to town. At the Cleaver they sacrifice goats, but no other victim of any kind; and of the meat they give portions to all, also the cake called physikillos, [139a] which is a small cake like the enkris ("honey-cake"), but rounder in shape. They give to all who come together there a green cheese, a slice of paunch and sausage, and dessert consisting of dried figs, dried beans, and green beans. Any one among the Spartiates, besides, who wishes to do so may take part in the Cleaver. They celebrate the Cleaver in town; they also celebrate the Nurse Festival, called Tithenidia, for the children. In this the nurses take the male children at the time of the Cleaver into the country, and there, before the image of Artemis called Korythalia, as she is called, whose sanctuary is beside the so-called Tiassos, in the region toward Cleta, they celebrate the Cleaver in the same way as for those first mentioned. They also sacrifice sucking-pigs, and at the festival banquet they serve the oven-bread mentioned before. By the other Dorians the chief meal is called aiklon. Epicharmus, at any rate, says in his Hope: "For someone unwillingly invited you to dinner (aiklon), but you made off to it on the run quite willingly." He has the same also in Periallus. "But in Sparta the so called aiklon comes after the dinner; they serve it to those who are admitted to the mess, being bread loaves in baskets and a piece of meat for each. The attendant who accompanies the distributer of the meat announces the aiklon, adding the name of the donor."

§ 4.17   Thus Polemon; but he is contradicted by Didymus the grammarian (whom Demetrius of Troezen calls the "book-forgetter" because of the number of treatises — three thousand five hundred — which he has published). Didymus says: "Polycrates relates in his History of Sparta that the Spartans observe the ritual of the Hyacinthia for a period of three days, and because of the mourning which takes place for the death of Hyacinthus they neither wear crowns at the meals nor introduce wheat bread, nor do they dispense any cakes, with their accompaniments, and they abstain from singing the paean to the god, and do not introduce anything else of the sort that they do at other festivals. On the contrary, they eat with great restraint, and then depart. But in the middle of the three-day period there is held a spectacle with many features, and a remarkable concourse gathers which is largely attended. Boys with tunics girded high play the lyre or sing to flute accompaniment while they run the entire gamut of the strings with the plectrum; they sing the praises of the god in anapestic rhythm and in a high pitch. Others march through the theatre mounted on gaily adorned horses; full choirs of young men enter and sing some of their national songs, and dancers mingling among them go through the figures in the ancient style, accompanied by the flute and the voice of the singers. As for the girls, some are carried in wicker carts which are sumptuously ornamented, others parade in chariots yoked to two horses, which they race, and the entire city is given over to the bustle and joy of the festival. On that day they sacrifice very many victims, and the citizens entertain at dinner all their acquaintances and their own servants as well. Not one misses the festival; on the contrary, it so happens that the city is emptied to see the spectacle. [140a] "The Cleaver festival is mentioned also by Aristophanes or Philyllius in The Island Towns, and by Epilycus in Coraliscus, who says: 'To the Cleaver methinks I'll go, to Apollo's kirk at Amyclae, where are tall barley-cakes, fu' many, and wheaten loaves, and a broth that is bonny.' Thus he expressly says that barley-cakes are served at the Cleavers. For that is what 'tall barley-cakes' (barakes) means — not 'dumplings' (tolypae), as Lycophron asserts, nor the bits of barley-cakes in the first kneading, as Eratosthenes says; further, there were wheat-loaves and a broth of some kind, extraordinarily well seasoned. What the Cleaver really is is plainly set forth by Molpis in his Lacedemonian State. He writes as follows: 'They also celebrate the so called Cleavers. This is a dinner consisting of barley-cake, wheat loaf, meat, uncooked greens, broth, fig, nut, and lupine.' What is more, the sucking-pigs sacrificed are not called orthagorisci, as Polemon maintains, but orthragorisci, because they are offered for sale at dawn (orthros), as Persaeus in his Spartan State and Dioscurides in the second book of the State assert, to whom may be added also Aristocles, who says the same in the first of his two books on the State of the Spartans. Further, Polemon says that the chief meal is called aiklon by the Spartans, all Dorians alike calling it the same. For Alcman, at any rate, has it thus: 'Whether he is at the mill or at the company mess (synaikliai), he tears his hair,' calling by this name the meals shared together. And again: 'Alcmaon hath made ready the meal (aiklon).' Spartans do not say 'aiklon' for the portion following dinner; and what is more, the word as they use it does not signify the doles given to messmates after the dinner; for it means bread and meat. These, on the contrary, are called epaikla, being, as it were, additional viands served to messmates after the regular aiklon, or meal. It is from this, I fancy, that the word epaiklon is formed. Moreover, what is prepared for the so called epaikla is not uniform, as Polemon assumes, but is of two sorts: that, namely, which they give to the boys is very simple and frugal, being merely barley-meal soaked in oil, which the Spartan Nicocles says they greedily gulp down (kapto) after dinner on laurel leaves, whence, he says, the leaves are called kammatides, but the meal-cakes themselves are called kammata. And that it was a practice among the men of long ago even to munch laurel leaves as a dessert is shown by Callias (or Diocles), who says, in The Cyclopians: 'Here comes the dish of leaves, which means an end to our dinners and our dances as well.' But that which they bring in for the men's mess is prepared from certain definite animals, which are given as a present to messmates by one, sometimes even several, among the rich members. "Molpis says that these after-dishes are also called mattye.

§ 4.18   Concerning them Persaeus, in The Spartan State, writes as follows: 'And immediately he assesses the well-to do in a sum sufficient to pay for the epaikla; these are desserts following the chief meal. But from the poor he requires a contribution of a reed or rush or laurel leaves, so that they may be able to gulp down their epaikla after dinner. These consist of barley-cakes mixed with oil. The whole proceeding, trifling to be sure, has become an act of governmental administration. Whoever is appointed to take the first or the second place on the couch, or to sit upon the bed, must in all cases do the same at the epaikla.' A similar account is given by Dioscurides. [141a] Concerning the laurel leaves and the food served on them Nicocles writes thus: 'The Ephor heard the cases of all and either acquitted or condemned them. The victor levies a light fine consisting of meal cakes (kammata) or laurel leaves (kammatides) to serve them on. These kammata are cakes, while kammatides are the leaves with which they gulp them down.'

§ 4.19   "Concerning the dinner eaten by the members of the mess, Dicaearchus records the following in the work entitled Tri-Statesman: 'The dinner is at first served separately to each member, and there is no sharing of any kind with one's neighbour. Afterwards there is a barley-cake as large as each desires, and for drinking, again, a cup is set beside him to use whenever he is thirsty. The same meat dish is given to all on every occasion, a piece of boiled pork; sometimes, however, not even so much as that is served, beyond a small bit of meat weighing not over a quarter of a pound. Besides this there is nothing whatsoever, except, of course the broth made from this meat, enough to go round among the entire company throughout the whole dinner; there may possibly be an olive or a cheese or a fig, or they even get something especially added, a fish or a hare or a ring-dove or something similar. Afterwards, when they have finished their dinner in haste, there are passed round these so called epaikla. Each member contributes to the mess about three half-medimni of barley, Attic measure, and perhaps eleven or twelve pitchers of wine; besides this, a certain weight of cheese and figs, and further, to procure the meat, about ten Aiginetan obols.' And Sphaerus, in the third book of his Spartan State, writes: 'The members of the mess also contribute epaikla to them. Sometimes the common people bring whatever is caught in the chase; but the rich contribute wheat bread and anything from the fields which the season permits, in quantities sufficient for the one meeting alone, because they believe that to provide more than is enough is uncalled for, if the food is not going to be eaten.' And Molpis says: 'Following the meal, it is customary always for something to be provided by some person, sometimes even by several persons, a dish (mattye) prepared in their own homes, and called epaiklon. No one is in the habit of contributing anything which he has bought by purchase in the market, for they contribute, not to satisfy their pleasure or the greed of the stomach, but to give evidence of their own prowess in the hunt. Many of them, too, who keep flocks, give a liberal share of the offspring. And so the mattya may consist of ring-doves, geese, turtle-doves, thrushes, blackbirds, hares, lambs, and kids. The cooks announce to the company the names of those who bring in anything for the occasion, in order that all may realize the labour spent upon the chase and the zeal manifested for themselves.' "Demetrius of Scepsis, in Book I of The Trojan Battle-order, says that the festival of the Karneia at Sparta is a representation of their military discipline. There are, namely, places numbering nine, which they call 'sunshades' because they bear some likeness to tents; and nine men eat in each, and a herald proclaims everything by order. Each 'shade,' moreover, holds three brotherhoods, and the festival of the Karneia is held for nine days."

§ 4.20   But the Spartans afterwards desisted from the austerity of such a mode of living and degenerated into luxury. Phylarchus, at any rate, in the twenty-fifth book of his Histories, writes of them: "The Spartans desisted from going to the common mess in the traditional fashion; [142a] when they did go, the booths which were set up for those who resorted thither, in obedience to the law, were small, and the couch-coverings prepared for them were so generous in size and so richly adorned with embroidery that some of the strangers who were invited hesitated to press their elbows against the cushions. In the old days, once they had rested their arms upon the couch, which was quite bare, they endured the rigour of it as long as the assembly lasted; now, however, they have relaxed in the luxury just mentioned, Bindulging in the display of many cups, and in the service of food dressed in every variety, and what is more, rare unguents and wines and desserts likewise. And these practices, in imitation of the regal court of Persia, were begun by Areus and Acrotatus, who reigned a little while before Cleomenes; yet even they in their turn were so far outdone in their own magnificence by certain private citizens of their generation in Sparta, that Areus and Acrotatus seemed to surpass in frugality all the men of earlier times, no matter how simple these may have been.

§ 4.21   "Cleomenes, however, who greatly excelled other men in his understanding of affairs, in spite of his youth, also grew to be most simple in his mode of life. For though he was by this time at the head of affairs of great importance, he made it plain to all whom he invited to a sacrificial feast that the arrangements which they made in their own houses were in no wise inferior to his. Although many embassies were received in audience before him, he never assembled them for dinner earlier than the customary time, and never caused more than five couches to be spread with coverings; when no embassy was present, he had only three couches prepared. And no directions were given by a seneschal concerning who should sit or recline first; on the contrary, the eldest led the way to the couches, unless Cleomenes himself called out the name of some person. Usually he was found to be reclining with his brother, or with one of the men of his own age. On the tripod lay a bronze cooler, a wine-jar, a silver bowl holding a pint, and a ladle; the pitcher was of bronze. But no drink was offered unless some asked for it. One ladleful was given before the meal, to Cleomenes long before the others, and only when he nodded to them did the others ask for theirs. The courses served on the small table were quite ordinary, and for the rest, they were in such quantity as neither to exceed nor fall short of the need — enough for all without having any of the guests call for more. For Cleomenes thought that they ought not to receive merely the frugal entertainment of broth and bits of meat, as they did at the common mess, nor, on the other hand, to go to such excess as to waste money to no good, by exceeding the moderation of their daily life. For the one he regarded as a meanness, the other as pride. The wine was of a little better quality when guests were present. After the meals all remained silent, and the slave, standing by with the wine ready mixed, gave it to anyone who asked for it. Just as before the meal, so also after it, not more than two ladlesful were offered, and then only when one signified his desire by a nod. No entertainment ever accompanied the meal, but the king himself conversed with each in turn, inviting all either to listen or to speak, so that they were all captivated by him when they departed." Antiphanes, satirizing Spartan dinners in the play entitled The Magistrate, has the following: [143a] "You have been in Lacedemon! Then you must conform to their customs: go to the common mess for your dinner; enjoy their broth, give up wearing your ambitious mustachios, and seek no more for other refinements. In their customs be yourself old-fashioned."

§ 4.22   Recording facts about the Cretan commons in the fourth book of his Cretan History, Dosiadas writes as follows: "The Lyttians pool their goods for the common mess in this way: every man contributes a tithe of his crops to his club, as well as the income from the state which the magistrates of the city divide among the households of all the citizens. But all slaves pay one Aiginetan stater per caput. The citizens are distributed in clubs which are called Andreia ('halls of men'). The mess is in charge of a woman who has assistants, three or four men chosen from the common people. Each of them is attended by two servants who bring in the fire-wood; these are called faggot-bearers. Everywhere throughout Crete there are two houses for the public messes; one of these is called Andreion, the other, in which they entertain strangers, is called koimeterion ('resting-place'). In the house intended for the mess there are set out, first of all, two tables, called 'guest-tables,' at which sit in honour any strangers who are in town; next come the tables for the others. An equal portion of the food on hand is served to each person; but only a half-portion of meat is given to the younger men, and they get nothing of the other food. Then on each table is placed a cup filled with wine much diluted; this is shared by all who are at the same table, and a second cup is served after they have finished the meal. For the boys a mixing-bowl is prepared which they share in common, but permission is given the older men to drink more if they desire. The woman in charge of the mess takes from the table in the sight of all the best of everything that is served, and sets it before the men who have distinguished themselves in war or in wisdom. After dinner they are in the habit first of deliberating on public affairs; from that subject they proceed to call up deeds of prowess in war and to praise the men of proved bravery, in order to encourage the younger men in the pursuit of virtue." Pyrgion, in the third book of his Cretan Customs, says that Cretans at the public mess eat together in a sitting posture. He further says that food without condiments is served to the orphans; that the youngest of the Cretan men stand by to wait at the tables; and that, after a silent libation to the gods, they proceed to the distribution of the food on hand to all present. They also apportion to the sons seated below their fathers' chairs only one half as much as is served to the adult men, but the orphans receive an equal share with the latter, Falthough in their case each of the customary foods is served without the admixture of any condiments. There were also chairs reserved for guests, and a third table at the right as one entered the halls, which they called 'the table of Zeus, god of strangers,' or 'the strangers' table.'"

§ 4.23  Herodotus, comparing the symposia of the Greeks with those of the Persians, says: "Of all the days in the year, the one which the Persians are accustomed to celebrate most is their birthday. On that day they deem it right to have a more abundant feast set before them than on all other days. [144a] Then the rich among them cause to be brought to the table an ox or ass or horse or camel roasted whole in the oven; the poor set out small animals. Breadstuffs they use but little, but they have many added dishes, though they are not served all at once. And the Persians say that the Greeks are still hungry when they stop eating, because nothing worth mentioning is brought in for them after the chief meal; if more were put before them they would not stop eating. The Persians are greatly addicted to wine; and it is not permissible to vomit or to make water in presence of another. These, then, are the customs observed by them. They are in the habit of deliberating on the most important matters when they are drunk, and whatsoever is their pleasure when they deliberate is brought before them for consideration the next day, when they are sober, by the master of the house where they happen to be when they deliberate. And if it still be their pleasure when they are sober, they act on it, otherwise they renounce it. Again, whatever they decide upon when they are sober they reconsider when they are drunk."

§ 4.24   Concerning the luxury of the Persian kings Xenophon writes thus in Agesilaus: "For the benefit of the Persian king they go about the entire country in search of something he may like to drink, and countless persons devise dishes which he may like to eat. No one could say, either, what trouble they give themselves that he may sleep in comfort. But Agesilaus, being devoted to hard work, was glad to drink anything that was before him, and was glad to eat whatever came first to hand, and any place was satisfactory to him for securing grateful sleep." In the work entitled Hieron, speaking of what food is prepared for the delectation of tyrants and of men in private station, he says: "'I know too, Simonides, that most persons infer that we eat and drink with greater zest than ordinary people from this fact, that they would themselves, as they believe, be more pleased to dine on the meal that is set before us than on what is served to themselves. For it is anything that transcends the usual that gives pleasure, which is the reason why all men except tyrants look forward with joy to holiday feasts. For since the tables set before tyrants are always heavily laden, they have nothing special to offer on feast-days, so that here is the first particular in which they are at a disadvantage compared with men in private station, namely in the delight of anticipation. Then secondly, he said, I am sure that you have learned that the more abundantly one is supplied with things which go beyond his needs, the more quickly he suffers from satiety as regards eating. Wherefore, again, the one who has too many things set before him is at a disadvantage, compared with those who live moderately, in the duration of his pleasure.' 'Yes, but, good heavens,' Simonides replied, 'so long as their appetites are keen, surely those who enjoy a richer array of food must have more pleasure than those before whom poorer dishes are set.'"

§ 4.25  Theophrastus, in his treatise On Monarchy dedicated to Cassander (if the work is authentic; for many declare that it is by Sosibius, for whom the poet Callimachus wrote a congratulatory poem in elegiac verse), says that Persian kings, to gratify their love of luxury, offer a large sum of money as a reward for all who invent a new pleasure. And Theopompus, in the thirty-fifth book of his Histories, says that whenever the Paphlagonian prince Thys dined, he had a hundred of everything prepared for the table, beginning with oxen; and even when he was carried away a captive to the Persian king's court and kept under guard, he again had the same number served to him, and lived on a splendid scale. Wherefore, when Artaxerxes heard of it, he said that it was plain to him that Thys was living as though he had made up his mind to die soon. [145a] The same Theopompus, in the fourteenth book of his Philippica, says that "whenever the Great King visits any of his subjects, twenty and sometimes thirty talents are expended on his dinner; others even spend much more. For the dinner, like the tribute, has from ancient times been imposed upon all cities in proportion to their population."

§ 4.26  Heracleides of Cumae, author of the Persian History, writes, in the second book of the work entitled Equipment: "All who attend upon the Persian kings when they dine first bathe themselves and then serve in white clothes, and spend nearly half the day on preparations for the dinner. Of those who are invited to eat with the king, some dine outdoors, in full sight of anyone who wishes to look on; others dine indoors in the king's company. Yet even these do not eat in his presence, for there are two rooms opposite each other, in one of which the king has his meal, in the other his invited guests. The king can see them through the curtain at the door, but they cannot see him. Sometimes, however, on the occasion of a public holiday, all dine in a single room with the king, in the great hall. And whenever the king commands a symposium (which he does often), he has about a dozen companions at the drinking. When they have finished dinner, that is, the king by himself, the guests in the other room, these fellow-drinkers are summoned by one of the eunuchs; and entering they drink with him, though even they do not have the same wine; moreover, they sit on the floor, while he reclines on a couch supported by feet of gold; and they depart after having drunk to excess. In most cases the king breakfasts and dines alone, but sometimes his wife and some of his sons dine with him. And throughout the dinner his concubines sing and play the lyre; one of them is the soloist, the others sing in chorus. And so, Heracleides continues, the 'king's dinner,' as it is called, will appear prodigal to one who merely hears about it, but when one examines it carefully it will be found to have been got up with economy and even with parsimony; and the same is true of the dinners among other Persians in high station. For one thousand animals are slaughtered daily for the king; these comprise horses, camels, oxen, asses, deer, and most of the smaller animals; many birds also are consumed, including Arabian ostriches — and the creature is large — geese, and cocks. And of all these only moderate portions are served to each of the king's guests, and each of them may carry home whatever he leaves untouched at the meal. But the greater part of these meats and other foods are taken out into the courtyard for the body-guard and light-armed troopers maintained by the king; there they divide all the half-eaten remnants of meat and bread and share them in equal portions. Just as hired soldiers in Greece receive their wages in money, so these men receive food from the king in requital for services. Similarly among other Persians of high rank, all the food is served on the table at one and the same time; but when their guests have done eating, whatever is left from the table, consisting chiefly of meat and bread, is given by the officer in charge of the table to each of the slaves; this they take and so obtain their daily food. [146a] Hence the most highly honoured of the king's guests go to court only for breakfast; for they beg to be excused in order that they may not be required to go twice, but may be able to entertain their own guests."

§ 4.27  Herodotus, in the seventh book, says that those Greeks who received the king and entertained Xerxes at dinner were reduced to such dire distress that they lost house and home. On one occasion, when the Thasians, to save the towns belonging to them on the mainland, received and entertained the army of Xerxes, four hundred talents in silver were expended in their behalf by Antipater, a prominent citizen; for cups and mixing bowls of silver and gold were furnished at table, and after the dinner (these were carried off as spoil by the Persians). If Xerxes had eaten there twice, taking breakfast as well as dinner, the cities would have been utterly ruined." And in the ninth book, also, of his Histories he says: "The Great King gives a royal banquet which is held once a year on his birthday. The name given to the dinner in Persian, is tukta, which in Greek means 'complete.' On that day alone the king smears his head with ointment and gives presents to the Persians." Alexander the Great, every time he dined with his friends, according to Ephippus of Olynthus, in the book which describes the demise of Alexander and Hephaestion, spent one hundred minas, there being perhaps sixty or seventy friends at dinner. But the Persian king, as Ctesias and Dinon (in his Persian History) say, used to dine in company with 15, men, and four hundred talents were expended on the dinner. This amounts, in the coinage of Italy, to 2,400, denarii, which, divided among 15, men, make denarii, Italic currency, for each man. Consequently it comes to the same sum as that spent by Alexander, which was one hundred minas, as Ephippus related. But Menander, in The Carouse, reckons the expense of the largest banquet at a talent only when he says: "So then, our prosperity accords not with the way in which we offer sacrifice. For though to the gods I bring an offering of a tiny sheep bought for ten drachmas, and glad I am to get it so cheap; but for flute-girls and perfume, harp-girls, Mendean and Thasian wine, eels, cheese, and honey, the cost is almost a talent; and whereas by analogy it is . . ." He evidently mentions a talent as though it were an extravagant expenditure. Again, in The Peevish Man, he has the following: "So burglars sacrifice: they bring chests and wine-jars, not for the gods' sake, but for their own. The frankincense is required by religion, and so is the meal-cake; the god gets this, offered entire on the fire. But they, after giving the end of the spine and the gall-bladder to the gods — because unfit to eat — gulp down the rest themselves."

§ 4.28  Philoxenus of Cythera, in the poem entitled The Banquet (granting that it is he and not the Leucadian Philoxenus, who was mentioned by the comic poet Plato in Phaon), describes the arrangements of a dinner in these terms: "And slaves twain brought unto us a table with well-oiled face, [147a] another for others, while other henchmen bore a third, until they filled the chamber. The tables glistened in the rays of the high-swinging lamps, freighted with trenchers and condiments delectable in cruets, full . . . and luxuriant in divers artful inventions to pleasure life, tempting lures of the spirit. Some slaves set beside us snowy-topped barley-cakes in baskets, while others (brought in loaves of wheat). After them first came not an ordinary tureen, my love, but a riveted vessel of huge size; . . . a glistening dish of eels to break our fast, full of conger-faced morsels that would delight a god. After this another pot of the same size came in, and a soused ray of perfect roundness. There were small kettles, one containing some meat of a shark, another a sting-ray. Another rich dish there was, made of squid and sepia-polyps with soft tentacles. After this came a grey mullet hot from its contact with fire, the whole as large as the table, exhaling spirals of steam. After it came breaded squid, my friend, and crooked prawns done brown. Following these we had flower-leaved cakes and fresh confections spiced, puff-cakes of wheat with frosting, large as the pot. This is called the 'navel of the feast' by you and me, I ween. Last there came — the gods are my witnesses — a monstrous slice of tunny, baked hot, from over the sea where it was carved with knives from the meatiest part of the belly. Were it ours ever to assist at the task, great would be our joy. Yet even where we were wanting, the feast was complete. Where it is possible to tell the full tale, my powers still hold, and yet no one could recount truly to you all the dishes that came before us. I nearly missed a hot entrail, after which came in the intestine of a home-bred pig, a chine, and a rump with hot dumplings. And the slave set before us the head, boiled whole, and split in two, of a milk-fed kid all steaming; then boiled meat-ends, and with them skin-white ribs, snouts, head, feet, and a tenderloin spiced with silphium. And other meats there were, of kid and lamb, boiled and roast, and sweetest morsel of underdone entrails from kids and lambs mixed, such as the gods love, and you, my love, would gladly eat. Afterwards there was jugged hare, and young cockerels, and many hot portions of partridges and ring-doves were now lavishly laid beside us. Loaves of bread there were, light and nicely folded; and companioning these there came in also yellow honey and curds, and as for the cheese — every one would avow that it was tender, and I too thought so. And when, by this time, we comrades had reached our fill of food and drink, the thralls removed the viands, and boys poured water over our hands."

§ 4.29  Socrates of Rhodes, in the third book of the Civil War, describes the banquet given by Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, who married the Roman general, Antony, in Cilicia. His words are: "Meeting Antony in Cilicia, Cleopatra arranged in his honour a royal symposium, in which the service was entirely of gold and jewelled vessels made with exquisite art; even the walls, says Socrates, were hung with tapestries made of purple and gold threads. And having spread twelve triclinia, Cleopatra invited Antony and his chosen friends. [148a] He was overwhelmed with the richness of the display; but she quietly smiled and said that all these things were a present for him; she also invited him to come and dine with her again on the morrow, with his friends and his officers. On this occasion she provided an even more sumptuous symposium by far, so that she caused the vessels which had been used on the first occasion to appear paltry; and once more she presented him with these also. As for the officers, each was allowed to take away the couch on which he had reclined; even the sideboards, as well as the spreads for the couches, were divided among them. And when they departed, she furnished litters for the guests of high rank, with bearers, while for the greater number she provided horses gaily caparisoned with silver-plated harness, and for all she sent along Aethiopian slaves to carry the torches. On the fourth day she distributed fees, amounting to a talent, for the purchase of roses, and the floors of the dining-rooms were strewn with them to the depth of a cubit, in net-like festoons spread over all." He also records that Antony himself, on a later visit to Athens, erected a scaffold in plain sight above the theatre, and roofed with green boughs, like the "caves" built for Bacchic revels; on this he hung tambourines, fawnskins, and other Dionysiac trinkets of all sorts, where he reclined in company with his friends and drank from early morning, being entertained by artists summoned from Italy, while Greeks from all parts assembled to see the spectacle. "And sometimes," Socrates continues, "he even shifted the place of his revels to the top of the Acropolis, while the entire city of Athens was illuminated with torches hung from the roofs. And he gave orders that henceforth he should be proclaimed as Dionysus throughout all the city." So, too, the Emperor Gaius, who had the cognomen Caligula from the circumstance that he was born in camp, was named "the new Dionysus," and not only that, but he also assumed the entire garb of Dionysus, and made royal progresses and sat in judgement thus arrayed.

§ 4.30   Viewing all this, which surpasses what we have, we may well admire Greek poverty, having also before our eyes the dinners of the Thebans, an account of which is given by Cleitarchus in the first book of his History of Alexander. He says that "after the demolition of their city by Alexander, their entire wealth was found to be under 440 talents; he further says that they were mean-spirited and stingy where food was concerned, preparing for their meals mincemeat in leaves, and boiled vegetables, anchovies, and other small fish, sausages, beef-ribs, and pease-porridge. With these, Attaginus, the son of Phrynon, entertained Mardonius together with fifty other Persians, and Herodotus says in the ninth book that Attaginus was well supplied with riches. I believe that they could not have won the battle, and that the Greeks need not have met them in battle-array at Plataeae, seeing that they already had been done to death by such food."

§ 4.31   (148f) In describing an Arcadian dinner, the Milesian Hecataeus, in the third book of his Genealogies, says that it consisted of barley-cakes and swine's flesh. And Harmodius of Lepreum, in his work on the Customs of Phigaleia, says: "The one who is appointed victualler among the Phigaleians used to supply daily three pitchers of wine, a bushel and a half of barley-meal, five pounds of cheese, and all other things appropriate for seasoning the meat. [149a] The city, on its part, furnished each of the two choruses with three sheep, a cook, a rack for water-jars, tables, benches to sit on, and all similar equipment, while the choregus supplied the utensils for the cook. Now the meal consisted of cheese and a lightly kneaded barley-cake served, in deference to custom (nomos), on bronze trenchers called in some authors mazonomoi ('barley-cake servers'), having received their name from this use. Along with the cake and the cheese were an entrail and salt to eat with it. Having consecrated this food, each man was permitted to drink a little from an earthenware basin, and the one offering it would say 'Good dinner to you!' Thereupon all shared alike a broth and a hash, and to each diner was given besides two slices of meat. At all their meals, but especially in those called mazones ('barley-feeds'), which name the guild of Dionysus retains even to this day, they held to the custom that for the more hearty eaters among the young men a larger quantity of broth should be poured out, and more barley-cakes and wheat bread should be placed before them. For such a young man was held to be manly and a thoroughbred, since hearty eating was admired and praised among them. After dinner they offered libations without washing their hands first, but wiping them off with pieces of bread; each man then carried away the crumbs. This practice they observed against the dangers which occur in the streets at night. After the libation they sing a paean. But when they sacrifice to the spirits of the departed, there is a great slaughter of cattle, and all are feasted in company with their slaves; at these festival banquets the boys dine with their fathers, sitting without cloaks on the stones." And Theopompus, in the forty-sixth book of his Philippica, says that "the Arcadians entertain at their celebrations masters and slaves, setting one table before them all; they freely serve food for all to share, and mix the same bowl for all."

§ 4.32   "In Naucratis," as Hermias says in the second book On the Gryneian Apollo, "the people dine in the town hall (prytaneion) on the natal day of Hestia Prytanitis and at the festival of Dionysus, and again at the great gathering in honour of the Comaean Apollo, all appearing in white robes which even to this day they call their 'prytanic' clothes. After reclining they rise again, and kneeling, join in pouring a libation, while the herald, acting as priest, recites the traditional prayers. After this they recline, and all receive a pint of wine excepting the priests of Pythian Apollo and of Dionysus; for to each of these latter the wine is given in double quantity, as well as the portions of everything else. Thereupon each diner is served with a loaf of pure wheat bread moulded flat, upon which lies another loaf which they call oven-bread; also a piece of swine's flesh, a small bowl of barley gruel or of some vegetable in its season, two eggs, a bit of fresh cheese, some dried figs, a flat-cake, and a wreath. Any manager of the festival who provides more than these viands is fined by the censors, and what is more, neither are those who dine in the town hall permitted to bring in anything to eat, but they eat these foods alone, giving a share of what remains to the slaves. [150a] But on all other days of the year any diner who wishes may go up to the town-hall and eat, after preparing at home for his own use a green or leguminous vegetable, some salt-fish or fresh fish and a very small piece of pork; sharing these . . . (he receives) a half-pint of wine. No woman may enter the town-hall except the flute-girl. Nor is it allowed to bring a chamber-pot into the town-hall either. If a Naucratite gives a wedding-banquet, it is forbidden, following the prescription of the marriage law, to serve eggs and honey-cakes." As for the origin of these practices, Ulpian is the right man to inform us!

§ 4.33  Lyceas, in his Egyptian History, esteems the banquets of the Egyptians more highly than the Persian, and says: "The Egyptians undertook a campaign against Ochus, king of Persia, but were defeated. Their king was taken prisoner, but Ochus treated him kindly and even summoned him to dinner. But though the arrangements for the dinner were sumptuous, the Egyptian laughed at them, feeling that the Persian lived very frugally. 'If you would know, O King,' said he, 'how a rich king should eat, permit the cooks who were once mine to prepare for you an Egyptian dinner.' The order was given, and when the dinner had been prepared, Ochus was delighted with it, but said, 'May the god, O Egyptian, bring you, evil man that you are, to an evil end, for you turned your back on such splendid dinners as these and conceived a desire for cheaper food.'" What Egyptian dinners were like Protagorides shows in the first book of his Games at Daphne, when he says: "A third kind of dinner is the Egyptian, where no tables are placed beside the guests, but platters are carried round among them."

§ 4.34   Among the Gauls, says Phylarchus in the sixth book, many loaves of bread are broken up and served lavishly on the tables, as well as pieces of meat taken from the cauldrons; no one tastes these without looking first to see whether the king has touched what is set before him. Again, in Book III, the same Phylarchus says that Ariamnes, who was a very richCelt, publicly promised to entertain all Celts for a year, and he fulfilled this promise by the following method. At various points in their country he set stations along the most convenient highways, where he erected booths of vine-props and poles of reed and osiers, according to the space demanded in each station for the reception of the crowds which were expected to stream in from towns and villages. Here he set up large cauldrons, containing all kinds of meat, which he had caused to be forged the year before he intended to give the entertainment, sending for metal-workers from other cities. Many victims were slaughtered daily — bulls, hogs, sheep, and other cattle — casks of wine were made ready, and a large quantity of barley-meal ready mixed. Phylarchus continues: "Not merely the Celts who came from the villages and towns profited by this, but even passing strangers were not allowed to depart by the slaves who served, until they had had a share of the food which had been prepared."

§ 4.35   Thracian dinners are mentioned by Xenophon in the seventh book of the Anabasis, describing the symposium at the house of Seuthes in these words: [151a] "After all had entered to partake of the dinner (where they sat in a circle), three-legged tables were immediately brought in for all. These, to the number of about twenty, were covered with meat piled high, and large loaves of leavened bread were attached by skewers to the meat. Special care was taken always to set the courses opposite the strangers, for that was the custom. Seuthes was the first to do this. He would take the loaves lying in front of him, break them into small pieces, and toss them to whom he liked; the meat likewise, leaving only enough to taste for himself. The others also before whom the tables were set followed his example. But an Arcadian named Arystas, a great eater, dispensed with the ceremony of the toss, and seizing in his hands a three-pound loaf and some meat, he placed them on his lap and proceeded to eat. They passed round drinking-horns containing wine, and all took them. But when the cup-bearer came to Arystas with the drinking-horn, he, seeing that Xenophon was no longer eating, said, 'Give it to him; for he is not busy any longer, whereas I haven't got time yet.' Thereupon laughter arose. As the drinking proceeded a Thracian entered with a white horse, and grasping a full horn he said, 'Here's to you, Seuthes; accept this horse as a present, for upon it, when you pursue, you will catch whomsoever you desire, and when you retreat, you will never be afraid of the enemy.' Another, in like manner, brought in and presented him with a slave as he drank his health, and still another gave him garments for his wife. Timasion, in proposing a toast to him, gave him a silver saucer and a scimitar worth ten minae. Then an Athenian named Gnesippus arose and said that there was an excellent custom of long standing, that the rich should honour the king with presents, but to those who were not rich the king should give presents. But Xenophon got up with a resolute air, and as he took the drinking-horn he said: 'I give myself and my comrades here to you, Seuthes, to be your trusted friends, and not one of us comes unwillingly. And today they appear before you with no other request, but desire that they may labour and risk danger in your behalf.' Then Seuthes arose and drank with Xenophon, and with him also emptied the horn upon the ground. After this there entered persons who played tunes on the horns used for signalling, and who sounded off measures, and as it were flageolet notes, on trumpets made of raw ox-hides."

§ 4.36  Poseidonius (he of the Stoa), in the Histories which he compiled, collected many usages and customs of many peoples germane to the philosophic tenets which he held; and he writes: "The Celts place hay on the ground when they serve their meals, which they take on wooden tables raised only slightly from the ground. Their food consists of a few loaves of bread, but of large quantities of meat prepared in water or roasted over coals or on spits. This they eat in a cleanly fashion, to be sure, but with a lion-like appetite, grasping whole joints with both hands and biting them off the bone; if, however, any piece proves hard to tear away, they slice it off with a small knife, which lies at hand in its sheath in a special box. [152a] Those who dwell beside rivers or by the inner and outer sea also eat fish baked with salt, vinegar, and cummin. The last they also drop into their wine. They use no olive oil, on account of its rarity, and being unfamiliar, it seems to them unpleasant. When several dine together, they sit in a circle; but the mightiest among them, distinguished above the others for skill in war, or family connexions, or wealth, sits in the middle, like a chorus-leader. Beside him is the host, and next on either side the others according to their respective ranks. Men-at arms, carrying oblong shields, stand close behind them, while their bodyguards, seated in a circle directly opposite, share in the feast like their masters. The attendants serve the drink in vessels resembling our spouted cups, either of clay or of silver. Similar also are the platters which they have for serving food; but others use bronze platters, others still, baskets of wood or plaited wicker. The liquor drunk in the houses of the rich is wine brought from Italy and the country round Marseilles, and is unmixed; though sometimes a little water is added. But among the needier inhabitants a beer is drunk made from wheat, with honey added; the masses drink it plain. It is called corma. They sip a little, not more than a small cupful, from the same cup, but they do it rather frequently. The slave carries the drink round from left to right and from right to left; this is the way in which they are served. They make obeisance to the gods, also, turning towards the right."

§ 4.37  Poseidonius again, describing the wealth of Lovernius, father of Bituis, who was deposed by the Romans, says that to win the favour of the mob he rode in a chariot through the fields scattering gold and silver among the myriads of Celts who followed him; he also made an enclosure twelve stades square, in which he set up vats filled with expensive wine, and prepared a quantity of food so great that for several days all who wished might enter and enjoy what was set before them, being served continuously. After he had finally set a limit to the feast, one of the native poets arrived too late; and meeting the chief, he sang his praises in a hymn extolling his greatness and lamenting his own lot in having come late. And the chief, delighted with this, called for a bag of gold and tossed it to the bard as he ran beside him. He picked it up and again sang in his honour, saying that the wheel-tracks made by the chariot on the ground on which he drove bore golden benefits for men. All this Poseidonius recorded in the twenty-third book.

§ 4.38   But in the fifth book, in his account of the Parthians, he says: "The subject who enjoys the title of 'king's friend' has no share at his board, [153a] but sits on the ground while the king reclines above him on a high couch; he eats dog-fashion what the king tosses to him, and often, on some slight pretext, he is dragged away from his lowly meal and flogged with staves or knotted straps until, covered with blood, he prostrates himself prone on the floor and does obeisance to his tormentor as to a benefactor." In the sixteenth book, again, he tells the story of King Seleucus; how that he went up into Media and made war on Arsaces, but was taken prisoner by the barbarian and lived a long time at the court of Arsaces, being treated in royal fashion. Poseidonius writes: "Among the Parthians, the king at their banquets occupied a couch on which he reclined alone; it was separated from the other couches and somewhat higher than they; his table was set before him apart, as to a departed spirit, and was laden with native dishes." Writing also about Heracleon of Beroea, the same who after being promoted by King Antiochus surnamed Grypus, almost ejected his benefactor from his kingdom, he says, in the thirty-fourth book of his Histories: "When he feasted his soldiers he caused them, in groups of a thousand, to recline on the ground in the open air. The dinner consisted of a huge loaf and meat, the drink being any kind of wine mixed with cold water. They were served by men wearing daggers, and in strict silence." In the second book he says: "In the Roman capital, whenever they hold a feast in the precinct of Hercules, it is given by the general who for the time being is celebrating a triumph, and the preparation for the banquet is worthy of Hercules himself. For honeyed wine flowed copiously throughout the entire meal, and the food consisted of large loaves and boiled smoked meat, as well as roast meat from the freshly sacrificed victims, in extravagant plenty. And among the Etruscans sumptuous tables prepared twice a day, and richly coloured rugs are spread, and there are silver cups of every kind, and a host of handsome slaves stands by, dressed in rich garments." Timaeus, moreover, in the first book of his Histories, adds that the slave girls among them serve naked until they grow to be adults.

§ 4.39  Megasthenes, in the second book of his History of India, says that among the Indians a table is set before each one at dinner. It resembles a side-board, and on it is placed a golden bowl into which they first pour their rice, boiled as one would boil groats, and they then add many sauces of meat which had been treated with Indian condiments. But the Germans, as Poseidonius narrates in the thirtieth book, eat for luncheon meat which has been roasted in separate pieces, and they wash it down with milik or wine that is unmixed. Some inhabitants of Campania fight duels during their symposia. And Nicolaus of Damascus, a Peripatetic philosopher, in the 110th book of his Histories, records that the Romans have gladiatorial fights during a banquet. He writes as follows: "The Romans staged spectacles of fighting gladiators not merely at their festivals and in their theatres, borrowing the custom from the Etruscans, but also at their banquets. At any rate, it often happened that some would invite their friends to dinner, not merely for other entertainment, but that they might witness two or three pairs of contestants in gladiatorial combat; on these occasions, when sated with dining and drink, they called in the gladiators. No sooner did one have his throat cut than the masters applauded with delight at this feat. [154a] And there have even been instances when a man has provided in his will that his most beautiful wives, acquired by purchase, should engage in duels; still another has directed that young boys, his favourites, should do the same. But the provision was in fact disregarded, for the people would not tolerate this outrage, but declared the will void." Eratosthenes, in the first book of his Olympic Victors, says that the Etruscans accompany their boxing-matches with the flute.

§ 4.40   In the twenty-third book of his Histories, Poseidonius says: "The Celts sometimes have gladiatorial contests during dinner. Having assembled under arms, they indulge in sham fights and practise feints with one another; sometimes they proceed even to the point of wounding each other, and then, exasperated by this, if the company does not intervene, they go so far as to kill. In ancient times, he continues, we observe that when whole joints of meat were served the best man received the thigh. But if another claimed it, they stood up to fight it out in single combat to the death. Others, again, would collect silver or gold, or a number of jars of wine from the audience in the theatre, and having exacted a pledge that their award would be carried out, they would decree that the collection be distributed as presents to their dearest relatives; they then stretched themselves on their backs over their shields, and some one standing near would cut their throats with a sword." Euphorion of Chalcis, in his Historical Notes, writes as follows: "Among the Romans twenty pounds are offered to any who will brave decapitation with an axe, on condition that their heirs receive the prize. And often, when too many are enrolled, they dispute which of them has the best right in each case to have his head cut off."

§ 4.41  Hermippus, in Book I of his work On Lawgivers, declares that the Mantineans were inventors of gladiatorial combats, having been counselled thereto by Demonax, one of their citizens; and the Cyrenaeans became imitators of them. And Ephorus says, in the sixth book of his Histories: "The Mantineans and Arcadians used to practise the arts of war diligently, and, as a consequence, to this very day people call the ancient military uniform and mode of arming 'Mantinean,' since it is believed that the Mantineans are the inventors. In addition, regular courses of instruction in fighting under arms were first instituted at Mantinea, Demeas being the instructor in the art." And that the custom of single combat was ancient is told by Aristophanes in the Phoenician Women in these words: "Warlike fury has swooped upon the sons of Oidipus, brothers twain, and at this moment they stand ready for the match in single combat." It is plain that the noun monomachos ("single fighter") is compounded not from mache ("battle") but from the verb machomai ("fight"). For whenever a word compounded with mache ends in -os, as in symmachos ("ally"), protomachos ("champion"), epimachos ("open to attack"), antimachos ("fighting against") or philomachos ("fight-loving") — Pindar has "the fight-loving race sprung from Perseus" — in such instances it has the acute accent on the third syllable from the last; but when the compound takes the accent on the syllable next before the last, it contains the verb machomai, as in pygmachos ("fist-fighter"), naumachos ("Sea-fighter"). "Thyself first, thou Fighter at the gate" (pylamachos), is found in Stesichorus. There are also hoplomachos ("fighting under arms"), teichomachos ("fighting at the wall"), and pyrgomachos ("fighting at the tower"). The comic poet Poseidippus says in The Pimp: "He that has never been to sea has never seen trouble at all; [155a] we sailors are more to be pitied than gladiators." We have explained in another passage also that prominent men and military leaders used to fight in single combat and that they did this in answer to a challenge. And Diyllus of Athens, in the ninth book of his Histories, says that when Cassander returned from Boeotia and held the funeral of the king and queen at Aegaeae, as well as of Cynna, the mother of Eurydice, he not only honoured them with all the other fitting rites, but set up also a contest of single fighters which was entered by four of his soldiers.

§ 4.42  Demetrius of Skepsis, in Book XV of The Trojan Battle-order, says: "At the court of Antiochus, surnamed the Great, it was the habit not merely of the king's friends but also of the king himself to dance under arms at dinner. But when it became the turn of Hegesianax to dance — the historian from Alexandria in the Troad — he arose and said: 'In my case, O King, would you rather see me dance badly, or would you like to hear me recite well my own works?' Commanded, therefore, to recite, he so delighted the king that he was promoted to a pension and became one of the king's favourites." Duris of Samos, in the seventeenth book of his Histories, says of Polysperchon that whenever he was elated by wine he would dance, even though he was rather old and second to none among the Macedonians either in military achievement or in general esteem; he danced continually, clad in a saffron tunic and wearing on his feet Sikyonian slippers. Agatharchides of Cnidus, in the eighth book of his Asiatic History records that whenever the friends of Alexander, son of Philip, entertained him at dinner, they encased everything that was to be served as dessert in gold; and when they desired to eat the desert, they tore off the gold with the rest of the waste and threw it away, that their friends might be spectators of their extravagance, while their slaves enjoyed the profit. But these gentry had forgotten, what Duris also records, that Philip, Alexander's father, possessed a gold cup weighing fifty drachms, and that he always took it to bed with him and placed it at his head. Seleucus says some Thracians make a sport of hanging at their drinking-bouts; they attach a noose at a certain height, directly under which they place a stone which may be easily rolled by any who step upon it. They then draw lots, and the one who receives the lot mounts the stone, holding a pruning-knife, and places his neck in the noose; another comes by and pushes the stone; and while it is rolling from under him, the man hanging there, if he does not quickly cut himself loose with the knife before it is too late, is dead, and the others laugh, holding the poor devil's death a great joke."

§ 4.43   This, friends and fellow-drinkers, "easily first among the Greeks," I have been able to tell from my knowledge of ancient symposia. The wise Plato, in the first book of the Laws, accurately describes symposia in these words: "Neither in the country nor in the towns under Spartan jurisdiction would you see symposia, nor would you see the things which accompany them and which excite all manner of licentious pleasures to the full extent of their power. [156a] Nor is there one among us who, if he met a man indulging in drunken merriment, would not immediately lay the heaviest punishment upon him; and not even the festival of Dionysus would afford an excuse to protect him, as I have seen it do in your country among the carts, and also in Tarentum, among our own colonists, where I have seen the whole town drunk during the festival of Dionysus. In Lacedemon there is nothing of that sort."

§ 4.44   Whereupon Cynulcus said: "I can only wish that you had played that Thracian game and come to your death; for you have been stretching our patience, and we are like persons who keep a fast and wait for that rising star which, as those say who have founded this noble philosophy, must first appear before it is lawful to taste any food. 'But I, wretch that I am,' as the comic poet Diphilus says, 'shall be an empty-bellied mullet through this extreme fasting.' And you also have forgotten the fine words of the Poet, who has said: 'Surely 'tis better to take our repast in season.' And the noble Aristophanes, in Cocalus, said: 'But, Daddy, it is high noon already, the time when youngsters should have dinner.' And so, in my opinion, it would be much better to dine in the fashion described by Parmeniscus, in The Cynics' Symposium, than to see as in a fever all these dishes going round here." We laughed, and someone said: "Well, my fine fellow, don't begrudge us the account of that symposium of Parmeniscus." So he raised himself up high beside us, and said: "'I swear to you, gentlemen,' to quote the pleasant Antiphanes. He has said, in Wrongly Wed: 'I swear to you, gentlemen, by that very god from whose bounty we all get drunk, that verily I should rather choose to live this life than have the superfluity of King Seleucus. It is sweet to sop up lentil soup without fear, it is miserable to sleep on a soft bed in fear.'

§ 4.45   Well then, Parmeniscus began his recital thus. 'Parmeniscus to Molpis, greeting: Since I have been very frequent in my addresses to you on the subject of the distinguished banquets to which I have been invited, I am in great apprehension lest you may at last be attacked with indigestion and lay the blame of your over-indulgence on me. Wherefore I wish to impart to you some of the dinner held at the house of Cebes of Cyzicus; so first drink some hyssop and direct your regard toward this entertainment. It was during the festival of Dionysus at Athens that I was invited to it. There I found a half dozen Cynics reclining, and one "master of the hounds," Carneius of Megara. The dinner being slow in coming, a discussion arose concerning water — which was the sweetest? Some praised the water of Lerna, others, again, the water of Peirene; but Carneius, quoting Philoxenus, said "The water which is poured over the hands." When the table was set beside us we began dinner, and "no sooner did we exhaust one lentil soup than in flowed another after." Then lentils again, soaked in vinegar were brought to us, and Diitrephes clutched a handful and said: "Zeus, let not him who is to blame for these beans escape thy vengeance!" And another thereupon cried out: "May a baneful destiny and a baneful fate seize thee." (In my eyes, to quote the comedian Diphilus, who says, in Daughters of Pelias: 'The little dinner was splendid, and very delicate. Beside each man there stood a large bowl full of lentil soup. - [157a] B. In the very first place, that's not so splendid. — A. Next after that there came dancing with a swoop into our midst a large shabar, rather evil smelling. — B. That must be the 'sacred wasse,' which makes the other wasses forthwith give him a wide berth.') After a burst of laughter at this, there entered the stage-thumper Melissa and the dog-fly Nicion; these were notorious courtesans. Glancing with wonder at the viands before them, they began to laugh. And Nicion said: "Does no one of you, beard-gathering sirs, eat fish? Or is it like what your ancestor Meleager of Gadara, in the work entitled The Graces, said of Homer: being a Syrian by birth, he has represented the Achaeans as abstaining from fish according to the practice of his own country, although there is great abundance of them in the region of the Hellespont? Or have you read only that work of his which contains the comparison of pease-porridge with lentil soup? For I see that the quantity of lentil-soup prepared at your dinner is great, and as I gaze upon it I should advise you, in the words of the Socratic Antisthenes, to 'deliver yourselves from life,' if you must feed on such stuff." In answer to her Carneius said: "Euxitheus the Pythagorean, Nicion, as the Peripatetic Clearchus tells us in the second book of his Lives, was wont to say that the souls of all beings are imprisoned in the body and in this hither life as a punishment, and that the god has ordained that if they refuse to abide in these until he of his own will releases them, they will then be plunged in more and greater torments. Wherefore all persons, dreading the violence of the higher powers, are afraid to depart from this life of their own motion, and gladly welcome only the death which comes in old age, being persuaded that this release of their souls comes with the approval of the higher powers. To these principles we ourselves subscribe." "But nobody begrudges your choosing one of the three evils. Indeed, you don't understand, poor fools, that these heavy foods form a barrier to the authoritative part of the soul, and inhibit the reason from being itself." —

§ 4.46   "Theopompus, therefore, in the fifth book of his Philippica, says: 'Too much eating, as well as meat-eating, destroys the reasoning faculties and makes souls more sluggish, and fills them besides with irascibility, hardness, and awkwardness.' And the admirable Xenophon also says that it is pleasant to eat a barley-cake and some cress when one is hungry, and pleasant, too, to draw water from a stream and drink when one is thirsty. And Socrates was many a time found walking up and down in front of his house in the late afternoon, and to those who asked, 'What are you doing at this hour?' he would reply, 'Gathering a relish for my dinner.' — "But we shall be satisfied with any piece that we may get from you, and not take it ill if we get too little, like the Heracles of Anticleides. For he says, in the second book of his Returns: 'After the completion of his Labours, Heracles was invited with others to a sacrifice celebrated by Eurystheus; and when the sons of Eurystheus set the chief portions before each one of themselves, but placed an humbler one before Heracles, [158a] he, deeming that he had been insulted, slew three of the sons, Perimedes, Eurybius, and Eurypylus.' Well, then, we have no such temper ourselves, though we are emulators of Hercules in all things."

§ 4.47   'Indeed, "Lentil soup is known to the tragic stage; they say that Agatharchus once painted a picture of Orestes guzzling it when he had recovered from his disease." So speaks the comic poet Sophilus. It is a Stoic belief, too, that the wise man will do all things rightly, even to the wise seasoning of lentil soup. Wherefore Timon of Phlious speaks of one "who had never learned wisely to make a Zenonian lentil soup," as if a lentil soup could not be made otherwise than according to the Zenonian prescription. For he said: "Into the lentil soup put the twelfth part of a coriander seed." And Crates of Thebes said: "Exalt not the dish of stew above a plate of lentil soup and so set us to quarrelling.' In like manner Chrysippus, in his essay On the Good, introduces to us certain maxims in these words: 'Never eat an olive when you have a nettle. In the winter season, a bulb-and lentil soup, oh me, oh my! For bulb-and lentil soup is like ambrosia in the chilly cold.' And the witty Aristophanes, in Gerytades, has said: 'Are you teaching him to make barley gruel or lentil soup?' And in Amphiaraus: 'You, who dare insult lentil soup, sweetest of delicacies!' Epicharmus, in The Dionysi: 'A kettle of lentil soup was simmering.' Antiphanes in Just Alike: 'It proved to be a piece of good luck, that one of the natives was teaching me how to make lentil soup.' I know also that the sister of Odysseus, most prudent and sagacious, was called Phake (lentil), though others name her Callisto, as recorded by Mnaseas of Patrae in the third book of his European History; my authority is Lysimachus, in the third book of his Returns."

§ 4.48   At this Plutarch laughed very boisterously, and the Cynic, unable to bear the slighting of his erudition concerning lentils, cried, "Yet, you men of fair Alexandria, Plutarch, have been brought up on lentil food, and your entire city is full of lentil dishes. Even the 'lentil'-parodist, Sopater, mentions them in a play, Bacchis, in these words: 'I could not, living within sight of the huge bronze Colossus, eat a loaf of lentil bread.' 'For what need have mortals (as your own Euripides says, most learned grammarian) of aught save two things only, Demeter's bounty and a water-gushing draught? These we have at hand, and nature gave them to nurture us. Yet we are not satisfied with abundance of these, and so in mere wantonness we hunt for devices to get other foods.' And in another place this philosopher of the stage says: 'Sufficient unto me is the modest food of a sober table; but all that is unseasonable and goes beyond due measure I hope I may not admit.' And Socrates used to say that he differed from all other men in that they live to eat whereas he ate to live. Diogenes, too, answered those who chided him for rubbing himself down: 'Would that I were able, by rubbing my belly as well, to quell its hunger and want!' Euripides in The Suppliants says of Capaneus: [159a] 'Here is Capaneus; his fortune was great, yet was he by no means proud in his felicity; and he carried a spirit no more presumptuous than any poor man, chiding any who was swollen overmuch with a rich table, and praising what sufficed; for he said that excellence consisted not in stuffing the belly, but that things in moderation were enough.'

§ 4.49  Capaneus was, in fact, not like the man whom the noble Chrysippus describes in the tract on Things not to be Chosen for their own Sake. He says: 'Some men are so degraded, when it comes to money, that the story is told of a man who, when near his end, swallowed a large number of gold pieces and died; still another caused some to be sewn in a shirt, and after putting it on he charged the members of his household to bury him just as he was, without burning his body or caring for it in any way.' Such persons as these, in fact, all but shout as they die: 'O Gold, fairest gift welcomed by mortals! For neither a mother, nor children in the house, nor loved father can bring such delights as thou and they that own thee in their halls. If the glance which shines from Kypris's eyes is like thine, no wonder that countless loves attend her.' Such was the character of the greed which people of those days possessed; concerning it Anacharsis, when someone asked him what the Greeks used money for, replied, 'To count!' Diogenes ordains that in his ideal state the currency shall be dice. Well said are the following words of Euripides: 'Speak not of wealth; for I reverence not the god whom even the basest man may easily win to his side.' Chrysippus, in the introduction to his treatise on Good and Evil, says that once a very rich young man came to Athens from Ionia, dressed in a purple cloak with gold fringe. When someone asked him where he was he replied, 'From Richmond.' Perhaps this is the same young man as that mentioned by Alexis in The Thebans thus: 'Whence does this man trace his birth?' B. From the Richmonds. All agree that these are most highly born, but not a soul sees a poor man of noble origin.'"

§ 4.50   When Cynulcus failed to get applause after these words, in a burst of temper he said, "Mr. Toastmaster, these gentlemen have no hunger, being troubled with word-diarrhoea, or they ridicule what has been said about lentil soup, having in mind what Pherecrates has said in Corianno: 'A. Come, give me a place on the couch; slave, bring forth a table, and a cup, and something to eat, to make the drinking sweeter. B. Here's a cup for you, a table, and some lentils. A. No lentils for me, by Zeus; I don't like them. If one eats them, his breath smells bad.' I say, then, since for this reason these wise men are wary of lentils, at least let some bread be given to me and with it anything that is not too expensive; on the contrary, if so be that you have but the far-famed lentil soup, or the so called 'conch.'" They all laughed, especially at the mention of "conch," but he continued: [160a] "Fellow-diners, you are illiterate; you never read books which alone can educate those who are eager for the good; I mean the books of Satire by Timon, disciple of Pyrrhon. For he it is who also mentions 'conch' in the second book of his Satires, in these words: 'I like not the barley-cake of Teos, nor the spiced gravy of the Lydians; but in the vulgar and squalid conch my Greek poverty finds all its overflowing luxury.' For though the barley-cakes of Teos are excellent, like those of Eretria (to judge from Sopater, in The Suitors of Bacchis; he says: 'We sped to Eretria, city of white barley-meal'), Timon prefers the conch to them and to the Lydian spiced gravy as well."

§ 4.51   In reply to this our noble host Larensis himself spoke: "Fellow Dogs, who . . . in the words of the Iocasta of the comic poet Strattis; she says, in the play entitled Phoenician Women: 'I wish to give you two some wise advice; when you make lentil-soup don't pour in perfume.' And Sopater also, whom you have just quoted, recalls the proverb in Spirit-Raising thus: 'Odysseus of Ithaca is here; as the saying goes, the perfume is in the soup. Have courage, my soul!' Clearchus, of the Peripatetic School, in his work on Proverbs, includes the phrase 'perfume in the lentil-soup' as a proverb, which is mentioned also by my ancestor, Varro, surnamed the Menippean. And most of the Roman grammarians, not having been conversant with many Greek poets and historians, do not know where Varro took the verse from. You, Cynulcus (since you delight in this name, never mentioning the one by which your mother called you at birth), in my opinion are 'mighty fine and tall,' in the words of your friend Timon, but are not aware that 'conch' has found mention in Epicharmus long before in his Holiday and Islands, and also in the comic poet Antiphanes, who used a diminutive form for the word in Marriage: 'a little bit of conch (conchion for conchos) and a slice of sausage cut off besides.'" (160D) Thereupon Magnus took the floor and said: "Our altogether excellent Larensis has answered this glutton 'dog' concerning 'conch' keenly and well. But I will follow The Celts of the Paphian Sopater: 'Among them it is the custom, whenever they win any success in battle, to sacrifice their captives to the gods; so I, imitating the Celts, have vowed to the heavenly powers that I shall burn three of those counterfeit dialecticians on the altar. Look you! Having heard that you diligently choose philosophy and philology and that you have stoical endurance, I am going to make a test of your doctrines first by smoking them; then, if I see one of you during the roasting pulling up his leg, he shall be sold to a Zenonian master for export, as one who knows not Wisdom.'

§ 4.52   For I will say to them frankly: if you, my philosopher, really love independence, why do you not emulate those Pythagoreans concerning whom [161a] Antiphanes, in Memorials, has these lines? 'Some wretched Pythagorists chanced to be eating salt-wort in the ravine, and, moreover, collecting poor bits of it in their bags.' And in the real Bag, as it is entitled, Antiphanes says: 'First of all, like a devotee of Pythagoras, he eats nothing that has life, but takes a sooty piece of barley-cake, the largest possible for a ha'penny, and chews that.' And Alexis in Men of Tarentum: 'A. The devotees of Pythagoras, we hear, eat neither fish nor anything else that has life, and they are the only ones who drink no wine. B. Yes, but Epicharides devours dogs, and he is a Pythagorean. A. Of course, after he has killed one, for then it no longer has life!' And going on Alexis says: 'A. Pythagorean subtleties, and fine-spun discourses, and disputations nicely polished nurture those fellows, but their daily food is this: one loaf of simple bread for each, a cup of water. That's all! B. It's prison fare that you tell of. Can it be that all these wise men live like that, and suffer such misery? A. These men live in luxury compared to others. Don't you know that Melanippides is a disciple, and Phaon, Phyromachus, and Phanus, who dine every four days on one half-pint of barley-meal?' And in The Lady Devotee of Pythagoras: 'A. Their entertainment will be dried figs and olive-cakes and cheese; for to offer these in sacrifice is the Pythagoreans' custom. B. So help me Zeus, good sir, that is the finest "meat" there is.' And after a little: 'They had to put up with sparse diet, dirt, cold, silence, gloom, and going without a bath.'

§ 4.53   "But you, my philosophers, practise nothing of this regimen; on the contrary — and this is the most vexatious of all — you babble about things you know nothing of, and as eaters pretending decorum, you put in your mouthfuls in the way described so pleasantly by Antiphanes. For he says in The Restorer of Runaways: 'Decorously putting in a mouthful — making his hand small to be sure in front, but full inside, as the women do — he ate it all up, fully and fattily.' According to this same poet, speaking in The Bumble-Bee, he might have purchased for a shilling 'the foods which suit you, garlic, cheese, onions, capers — all that for a shilling.' Aristophon in The Pythagorean Discipline: 'In the name of the gods, do we really think that those Pythagorean disciples, born in the old days, willingly went dirty or wore old clothes because they wanted to? It is no such thing, in my opinion. Rather, they did it from necessity, possessing not so much as a penny, and having found a good excuse for their frugality, they fixed standards fit for the poor. For just set before them fish or meat; if they don't eat them up, and their own fingers too, I am willing to be strung up a dozen times.' [162a] It is not a bad time to recall the epigram, written in your honour, which Hegesander of Delphi has cited in the sixth book of his Commentaries: 'Sons-of-eyebrow-raisers, noses-fixed-in beards, beards-bag-fashion-trimmed, and casserole-pilferers too, cloaks-over-shoulders-slinging, barefoot-shambling-with-eyes-cast down, night birds secretly-feeding, night-sinners in deceit, puny lad-deceivers and silly-babblers of sought-syllables, wise-in-their-vain-conceits, degenerate-sons of seekers-after-good.'

§ 4.54  Archestratus of Gela, in his Gastrology — this, by the way, is the only epic poem which you wise men like; the only Pythagorean rule you observe is the rule of silence, which you practise only because of your incapacity for discourse; furthermore, you like the Art of Love by the Cynic Sphodrias, you like the recitals on love given by Protagorides, and the Convivial Dialogues of that noble sage Persaeus, compiled from the memoirs of Stilpo and Zeno. In these, that the banqueters may not fall asleep, questions are raised such as, How should the toasts be ordered? At what hour should the beautiful boys and girls be introduced into the symposium, and when should they be allowed to practise their coquetry, and when should they be sent packing for showing contempt? And then, again, concerning new entrees and kinds of bread, and, among other topics, all that the philosopher son of Sophroniscus has said with some particularity on the subject of kisses. For Persaeus ever turned his mind to these subjects; but having been entrusted by Antigonus with the citadel of Corinth, as Hermippus says, he was ejected when in his cups even from Corinth itself, being out-generalled by Aratus of Sikyon — he who before that had hotly insisted, in his Dialogues addressed to Zeno, that the wise man would under all circumstances prove to be a good general as well, the noble 'slave' of Zeno having established this contention by his deeds alone! For Bion the Borysthenite, when he saw a bronze statue of him on which was inscribed 'Persaeus, slave of Zeno, of the town of Citium,' remarked wittily that the engraver of the inscription had made a mistake; for (he said) it should read thus: 'Persaeus of Zeno-Slavia.' For he was, as a matter of fact, a slave of Zeno, as Nicias of Nicaea records in his Inquiry Concerning Philosophers, and Sotion of Alexandria in his Successions. I have come across two volumes of this wise treatise of Persaeus bearing this title, Convivial Dialogues.

§ 4.55   "Ctesibius of Chalcis, the friend of Menedemus, was once asked by somebody, according to Antigonus of Carystus in his Lives, what advantage he had gained from philosophy. He replied, 'Dinners without paying my share.' Wherefore Timon somewhere addressed him in these words, 'Dinner-crazed, with the eyes of a fawn, but with a heart unmoved!' Now Ctesibius could hit the nail on the head and provoke laughter by his wit, [163a] consequently he was always being invited to dinners; not like you, Cynic, who have never won the favour of the Muses, to say nothing of the Graces. At any rate, Virtue avoids you and those like you, and takes her seat by the side of Pleasure, as Mnasalces of Sikyon phrases it in epigrammatic verses: 'I, unhappy Virtue, have taken my seat here beside Pleasure, my curly locks shorn in direst disgrace, my soul caught in the meshes of heavy grief, because insane Joy has been preferred to me.' And the comic poet Baton says in The Murderer: 'I summon hither the philosophers who are sober, who never give themselves a single good thing, who look for the wise man in their walks and talks, as for one who has run away. Man accursed, why, when you have the money to pay, do you stay sober? Why do such injury to the gods? Why, fellow, have you deemed money more precious than yourself or than it is by nature? You are a dead loss to the community if you drink water; for you wrong the farmer and the merchant. But I, when I drink wine to the full, make their profits good. Yet you carry about your jug from early morning, looking to see if there is oil in it; whence one would think that you carry about a water-clock, not a jug!'

§ 4.56   "As I was saying, Cynulcus: Archestratus, whom you worship, for your belly's sake, on a par with Homer — 'and there is nothing more voracious than that,' to quote your friend Timon — writes as follows an account of the shark: 'Nay, not many mortals know of this heavenly viand or consent to eat it — all those mortals, that is, who possess the puny soul of the booby-bird and are smitten with palsy because, as they say, the creature is a man-eater. But every fish loves human flesh if it can get it. Wherefore it is the simple duty of all who talk such foolishness to betake themselves to vegetables, and going over to the philosopher Diodorus, to live abstemiously like Pythagoreans in his company.' Now this Diodorus was an Aspendian by birth, and though he was reputed to be a Pythagorean, he lived in the manner of you Cynics, wearing his hair long, and going dirty and bare-footed. Hence some have even thought that this habit of wearing long hair was Pythagorean, having been promulgated by Diodorus, as Hermippus says. And Timaeus of Tauromenium, in the ninth book of his Histories, writes about him thus: 'Diodorus, the Aspendian by birth, introduced the eccentric mode of life, and pretended that he had consorted as a disciple with the Pythagoreans; to him Stratonicus dispatched a messenger, bidding the man as he departed to report his commands "to that henchman of Pythagoras who keeps the Stoa crowded with people marvelling at his beast-robed madness and insolence." 'Sosicrates, too, in the third book of The Succession of Philosophers, records that Diodorus adopted the wearing of a long beard, put on a worn cloak, and grew long hair, introducing this practice as an innovation in order to gratify a kind of vanity, [164a] since the Pythagoreans before his time always dressed in white clothing and made use of baths, ointments, and the customary mode of hair-cut.

§ 4.57   Now if, my philosophers, you really love independence and cheap things to eat, why do you come here where you have not even been invited? Is it as though you had come into a prodigal's house to learn how to make a list of cooking utensils? Or to recite the Cephalion of Diogenes? For, in the words of the Cedalion of Sophocles, ye are 'rogues from the whipping-post and the rack, devourers of other men's goods.' But that you philosophers always have your minds on dinners when you ought to ask for something in the way of Cynic food to eat up or devour (for it were not lawful for me 'to use pleasing terms'), is plain from what Alexis tells in the play entitled Linus. He imagines Heracles as being educated in the house of Linus and as having been bidden to select from a large number of books lying beside him and read. So he picked up a book on cookery and held it in both hands very carefully. Linus speaks: 'Go up and take whatever book from there you wish; then looking very carefully at the titles, quietly and at your leisure, you shall read. Orpheus is there, Hesiod, tragedies, Choerilus, Homer, Epicharmus, histories of all sorts. For thus shall you show the bent of your nature. HER. This is the one I shall take. LI. Tell me first what it is. HER. Cookery, as the title declares. LI. You are a philosopher, that's very plain; for, paying no attention to all these other writings, you have picked the treatise of Simus. DHER. Simus, who's he? LI. A very talented fellow. At present he is keen for tragedy, and of all actors he is much the best cook, in the opinion of those who hire him, but of cooks he is the best actor . . . LIN. The fellow has a morbid hunger. HER. Say what you like of me. I am hungry, let me tell you!'"

§ 4.58   After Magnus had recited these quotations in order, Cynulcus addressed the philosophers present: "As Cratinus said in The Archilochi (Satirists): 'You have seen what sort of insults that Thasian pickle barks at us — how neatly and speedily he got his revenge without delay. He is not like the blind talking uselessly to the deaf, let me tell you.' For, oblivious of the court before whom he delivers the display of his clever iambics, and impelled by his native desire to satisfy his belly and his love of jesting, he gives us a recital of wild songs and 'lays discordantly piped and cymbals struck untimely.' And after these nice exhibitions of poor taste he goes about from house to house looking to see where brilliant dinners are preparing, outdoing the poor devil Chaerephon of Athens, of whom Alexis says in The Refugee: 'Chaerephon is always inventing some trick; in fact, at this very moment he is trying to get himself dinners for which he pays nothing. For where crockery is exposed for cooks to hire, there he goes, at earliest dawn, and takes his stand; and if he sees it being let out for an entertainment, [165a] he learns from the cook who the entertainer is, and if he can but find the front door open wide, he is the first to enter.' And this man, like our noble Magnus, does not hesitate to undertake foreign travel to gratify his appetite; so says the same Alexis in Dying Together: 'To get a dinner Chaerephon went uninvited to Corinth; yes, by this time he is flying overseas; so pleasant a thing it is to eat others' food.' And Theopompus said in Odysseus: 'The saying of Euripides is not half bad — the really fortunate man dines on others' food.'"

§ 4.59   When, then, all had laughed at this, Ulpian spoke: "That word for 'jesting' — where did these solecistic voluptuaries get it?" Cynulcus answered him: "Why, 'you well-seasoned pig,' the comic poet Phrynichus, in Ephialtes, mentions jesting in these lines: 'Of all the jobs we now have to do, the hardest is to protect oneself from them. For they have a kind of sting in their fingers, the flower of man-haters' prime. When they go about the market-place they always speak suavely to all; but when they are seated on the benches, there they tear great scratches in those to whom they speak so suavely, and with one consent deride them.' But the expression, 'use pleasing terms,' is employed by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound: 'Thou shalt know that this is verily so, nor is it in me to use pleasing terms.'" Again Ulpian said: "What, my friends, are the utensils used by cooks?" For they had mentioned these as worthy of notice in the account of the Arcadian dinners. "And where is that word 'prodigal's house'? I know indeed of some notorious prodigals. One is mentioned by Alexis in The Woman of Cnidus: 'That scamp Diodorus, in only two years, has made a football of his patrimony, so rashly has he chewed up all that he had.' And in Phaedrus he says: 'Slowly indeed, yes, by the sun slowly, you say! That little Epicharides in five days has made a football of his patrimony, so rashly and speedily has he squeezed it up into a ball.'

§ 4.60   And Ctesippus also, the son of Chabrias, went so far in his prodigality that, to indulge his pleasures, he actually sold the stones of his father's monument, on which Athens had spent a thousand drachmas. At any rate, Diphilus says in Worshippers of the Dead: "If, Phaedimus, Ctesippus, son of Chabrias, had not happened to be a friend, I should have proposed a law not unuseful, in my opinion, — that his father's monument should be some day completed, one stone at a time each year, each large enough to fill a cart, and very cheap material too, say I.' Timocles in Satyrs of the People says: 'No longer does even Ctesippus, son of Chabrias, shave three times a day, [166a] bright spark among the ladies, but not among true men.' And Menander says this about him in Temperament: 'And yet, wife, I too was once a young man, but in those days I did not bathe five times a day. Now I do. I did not own a fine cloak either. Now I do. Nor did I have perfume. Now I have. And I will have my hair dyed, yes, Zeus be my witness, I will pluck myself smooth, and in a little while I will become Ctesippus and not a man, and then, like him, I will eat up the very stones, every one of them; at any rate I won't eat my land and nothing else.' It may be, then, that on account of this great extravagance and licentiousness Demosthenes omitted naming him in the speech On Exemptions. Men who have devoured their inheritances ought to be punished in the way described in Menander's Skipper: 'O dearest mother earth, how very reverend a possession, and beyond price, art thou in the eyes of sensible men! For it were only right, of course, that anyone who had inherited an ancestral estate and then devoured it should from that time on for ever sail the seas, and never so much as set foot on land, that he might thus come to see how good a thing he had inherited but failed to save.'

§ 4.61   "A prodigal named Pythodelus is mentioned by Axionicus in The Etruscan thus: 'Here comes Pythodelus, surnamed the Dancer, and close at his heels behind him comes reeling that clever girl, Bastinado-fig.' And Anaxandrides holds up Polyeuctus to ridicule in Tereus. He says: 'A. You shall bear the name Rooster. — B. Why, in the name of the hearth goddess? Is it because I have eaten up my father's property, as the noble Polyeuctus did? A. No, of course not; it's because you, a male, have been pecked to pieces by females.' Theopompus, in the tenth book of his Philippica (though some deny the authenticity of the last part, dealing with the popular leaders at Athens) — says that the popular leader Eubulus was a prodigal. The language he used is as follows: 'To such an extent has he outdone the people of Tarentum in extravagance and greed, that whereas they were intemperate simply in the matter of banquets, he has made a constant practice of spending even the revenues of Athens to hire mercenaries. But Callistratus, he continues, the son of Callicrates, likewise a popular leader, though he was intemperate in personal indulgence, was careful of the public interests.' And recording the history of Tarentum in the fifty-second book of his Histories he writes as follows: 'The city of Tarentum offers sacrifices of oxen and holds public banquets nearly every month. The mass of common people is always busy with parties and drinking-bouts. And the Tarentines have a saying of some such purport as this, that whereas the rest of the world, in their devotion to work and their preoccupation with various forms of industry, are always preparing to live, they themselves, with their parties and their pleasures, do not put off living, but live already.'

§ 4.62   "Concerning the extravagance and mode of life of Philip and his companions Theopompus wrote the following in the forty-ninth book of his Histories: [167a] 'After Philip had become possessor of a large fortune he did not spend it fast. No! He threw it outdoors and cast it away, being the worst manager in the world. This was true of his companions as well as himself. For to put it unqualifiedly, not one of them knew how to live uprightly or to manage an estate discreetly. He himself was to blame for this; being insatiable and extravagant, he did everything in a reckless manner, whether he was acquiring or giving. For as a soldier he had no time to count up revenues and expenditures. Add to this also that his companions were men who had rushed to his side from very many quarters; some were from the land to which he himself belonged, others were from Thessaly, still others were from all the rest of Greece, selected not for their supreme merit; on the contrary, nearly every man in the Greek or barbarian world of a lecherous, loathsome, or ruffianly character flocked to Macedonia and won the title of "companions of Philip." And even supposing that one of them was not of this sort when he came, he soon became like all the rest, under the influence of the Macedonian life and habits. It was partly the wars and campaigns, partly also the extravagances of living that incited them to be Ruffians, and live, not in a law-abiding spirit, but prodigally and like highwaymen.'

§ 4.63   "Duris, in the seventh book of his Macedonian History, speaking of Pasicyprus, king of Cyprus, and his prodigality, writes the following: 'After the siege of Tyre, Alexander, in dismissing Pnytagoras, gave him among other presents a fortress which he himself had asked for. This fortress the reigning king Pasicyprus had before this been compelled by his extravagance to sell for fifty talents to Pygmalion of Citium; along with the fortress went his kingdom too. Pasicyprus took the money and passed his old age in Amathus.' Another spendthrift of this sort, according to Demetrius of Skepsis, was Aethiops of Corinth, who is mentioned by Archilochus. For, pleasure-loving and lacking self-control, he, when sailing with Archias to Sicily at the time when Archias was going to found Syracuse, sold to his messmate for a honey-cake the share which he had drawn by lot and was to have in Syracuse.

§ 4.64   'Demetrius, the grandson of Demetrius of Phalerum,' as Hegesander says, 'went to such extremes of prodigality that he kept Aristagora of Corinth as his mistress and lived sumptuously. And when the Areopagites summoned him before them and bade him live a better life, he replied, "But I am living as becomes a man of breeding as it is. For I have a mistress who is very fair, I have never wronged any man, I drink Chian wine, and in all other respects I contrive to satisfy myself, since my private revenues are sufficient for these purposes; I do not, as some of you do, live as a venal judge or adulterer." Thereupon he designated by name some who made a practice of these things. And when King Antigonus heard this, he made him a judge. At the Panathenaea, as hipparch, he reared beside the Hermae an ikrion (platform) for Aristagora higher than the Hermae; and at Eleusis, at the time of the Mysteries, he placed a throne for her beside the anaktoron, after threatening that any who should try to prevent him would be sorry for it.'

§ 4.65   [168a] "That all prodigals, and persons who did not live according to their means, were in ancient times summoned before the Areopagites and punished by them, is recorded by Phanodemus and Philochorus and several others. For example, they sent for the philosophers, Menedemus and Asclepiades, when they were young and poor, and asked them how it was that though they spent all their days in leisurely association with the philosophers, and possessed no property, yet they were in such good bodily condition; and they told the judges to summon a certain miller. When he arrived he deposed that every night they came to his mill and ground, receiving, both together, two drachmas; and in admiration the Areopagites rewarded them with 200 drachmas. Again, the people of Abdera summoned Democritus to trial in court on the charge of having squandered his patrimony; but when he had read them his great Order of the Universe and told them about things in Hades, he explained that he had spent all on these researches, and was acquitted.

§ 4.66   Those, however, who are not prodigal in this sense, in the words of Amphis, 'Drink every day throughout the day,' with temples badly shaken by the unmixed wine; or, as Diphilus says, 'carrying three heads, like an Artemision.' 'They are enemies of their own property,' as Satyrus says in his work On Characters, 'trampling down their fields, pillaging their houses, looting their funds, looking not to what has been spent but to what is going to be spent, not to what will be left over but to what will not be left over; in their youth squandering too soon the provision for their old age, delighting in a mistress, not in mates, and in wine, not in the company at wine.' And Agatharchides of Cnidus, in the twenty-eighth book of his European History, says: 'The Ephors in Sparta debarred Gnosippus, since he had proved to be a prodigal, from associating with the young men.' Among the Romans it is recalled, as Poseidonius says in the forty-ninth book of his Histories, that a certain Apicius had outdone the whole world in prodigality. This Apicius is the man who caused the banishment of Rutilius, who had published his History of Rome in the Greek language. Concerning an Apicius who also was notorious for prodigality, we have spoken in the first book.

§ 4.67   "Diogenes of Babylon in his work on Noble Birth says that there was not a man in Athens who did not hate Phocus, the son of Phocion; and whenever one met Phocus he would say to him, 'O you disgrace to your family!' For he spent all his ancestral estate in prodigality, and then began to toady to the one in charge of Munichia, for which he was again castigated by all. And once, when donations, over and above taxes, were being subscribed, he came forward also in person before the assembly and said, 'I myself donate'; and all the Athenians with one consent cried out, 'Yes, to profligacy.' Phocus was also a drink-lover. At any rate, he once won in a horse race at the Panathenaea; and when his father entertained his companions with a banquet, the company, on arriving at the dinner, found the preparations elaborate; and as they came in there were brought to them vessels for washing the feet, filled with spiced wine. [169a] When his father saw them, he called to Phocus and said, 'Make your comrade stop spoiling your victory!' I know of many other prodigal men besides, but I leave you to inquire into the history of them all excepting Callias the son of Hipponicus, whose story is known even to the slaves who attend schoolboys. But if you have anything to say on the other subjects which I have propounded for discussion before anyone else, 'I hold the portals of my ears spread open wide.' Wherefore speak. For I again ask about the expressions which Magnus used, 'to eat up and devour.'" And Aemilianus said: "You have the word 'prodigals' house' in Strattis, who says in Chrysippus: 'If a body isn't going to have time even to relieve himself, or go to a prodigal's house, or when someone meets him, to stop and say a single word!'"

§ 4.68   Cooking utensils are enumerated by Anaxippus in The Harp-singer thus: "Bring a soup ladle, a dozen skewers, a meat hook, mortar, small cheese scraper, skillet, three bowls, a skinning knife, four cleavers. First bring, won't you, you abomination in the eyes of the gods, the small kettle and the things from the soda-shop. Late again, are you? Bring also the axe and the rack of frying-pans." The pot used for boiling is called caccabe by Aristophanes in Women who get the Best Places, thus: "A. Put the pot on the fire. — B. What, the teacher's?" Also in Men of Dinnerville: "And bring the pot from there." Antiphanes in The Pro-Theban: "We now have everything; for the creature which bears the same name as our lady inside, Boeotian 'eel,' is tightly enveloped in the hollow depths of the pot (caccabe); it's getting hot, rising high, stewing and spluttering." But in Euthydicus Antiphanes calls the pot batanion: "after that, sliced octopus stewed in pots (batania)." So Alexis in Asclepiocleides: "With such natural aptitude have I learned in Sicily to make fancy dishes, that I cause the feasters now and then to push their teeth into the pots for very joy." But Antiphanes has patanion, spelled with p, in Marriage: "Pots (patania), a beet, silphium, boilers, lamps, coriander, onions, salt, olive-oil, a bowl." Philetaerus in Oinopion: "Let this cook Potter advance!" And again: "Methinks Potter will have more pupils than Victor." In The Parasite Antiphanes also has this: "A. Following this another will come, large, filling the table, well-born — B. Whom are you talking about? — A. A creature from Carystus, gigantic, seething. — FB. Well, aren't you going to tell me? Get on! — A. Caccabus I mean; you, perhaps, would call him Casserole. — B. Do you think it makes any difference to me whether people like to call it Caccabus or Sittybus, provided that I know that you are talking about a pot?" But Eubulus, in Ion, has both forms, batania and patania, in these lines: "Bowls, and basins (batania) too, and kettles, casseroles, and patens (patania), sounding in various tones, and — I couldn't begin to tell you if I began to tell."

§ 4.69   [170a] Alexis has made his own list of seasonings in The Melting-pot as follows: "A. No excuses for me here! No 'I haven't got any'! — B. Well, tell me what you need. I will get everything. — A. All right. Then first go and get sesame seeds. — B. But I have them in the house. — A. A mashed raisin, some fennel, aniseed, mustard, kale, silphium, dried coriander, sumach, cummin, capers, marjoram, horn-onion, garlic, thyme, sage, must, hart-wort, rue, leek." Another list is in The Vigil, or Toilers; he represents a cook as saying: "I'll have to run round and round and shout for anything I may need. You will demand of me your dinner just as soon as you arrive? But I have, as it happens, no vinegar, no anise, no marjoram, no fig-leaves, no oil, no almonds, no garlic, no must, horn-onion, bulb, fire, cummin, salt, egg, wood, kneading-trough, frying-pan, well-rope — I have not seen cistern or well. There is no wine jar, and I stand here all in vain, knife in hand, and what's more, my loins girt up for action." And in The Love-lorn Lass: "First of all put some marjoram at the bottom of a large casserole, over that the liqueur, diluted with vinegar in just measure, colouring it with must and silphium; then whip it vigorously." To "eat up" is used by Telecleides thus in The Prytanes: "Eating up a little cheese." Eupolis has the aorist of the verb in The Taxiarchs: "To eat up nothing, but merely chew an onion and three salted olives." And Aristophanes in Plutus: "in the old days, such was his poverty, he would eat up anything."

§ 4.70   (170d) Different from the cooks were the so called "table-makers." What these men were called in for is plainly shown by Antiphanes in The Immigrant: "I went and hired in addition this table-maker, who will wash the dishes, get the lamps ready, prepare the libations, and do everything else which it is his business to do." We may, however, ask whether the "table-server" is the same as the "table-maker." For King Juba, in Similarities, says that "table-server" and the person called by the Romans structor are one and the same, citing lines from a play by Alexander entitled The Drinking-bout: "For tomorrow I must secure a flute-girl; I will get a 'table-maker' and a caterer. This is what my master sent me from the country for." They used to call table-maker the man who took care of the tables and the correct serving of the dinner in general. Philemon in Butting In: "You have no oversight in the kitchen; a table-maker is appointed to serve." They used to call the viands placed upon the table (trapeza) epitrapezomata. Plato in Menelaus: [171a] "How little is left over of the things upon the table! " They used also to call the man who purchased the food "marketer" (agorastes), though today we call him "obsonator"; thus Xenophon, in the second book of Memorabilia, has these words: "Should we consent to take a servant and a marketer of this quality for nothing?" But in Menander's Phanium it has a more general sense: "He was a thrifty and moderate purchaser." Aristophanes has the form opsones for "marketer" in Masters of the Frying-Pan, in these lines: "How that marketer seems to be delaying our luncheon!" Cratinus used a verb meaning "to buy dainties besides" in The Cleobulinas . . ., and Alexis has a verb "buy in the market beside," in Dropides. Those who give the summons to come to the king's table, as Pamphilus says, are called "table-men," from eleon, which means "meat-table." But Artemidorus names them "dinner-summoners."

§ 4.71   He further says that they used to call the foretasters "eaters," because they ate before the king to ensure his safety. But in our day the "eater" has become the superintendent of the entire service; his office was distinguished and honourable. Chares, at any rate, in the third book of his Histories says that Ptolemy Soter was appointed "eater" for Alexander. Perhaps also the man whom Romans today call "foretaster" was he whom Greeks in the old days used to name protenthes, as Aristophanes has it in the earlier edition of the Clouds, in these lines: "Strepsiades: How is it, then, that the magistrates don't accept these pledges on the first day of the month, instead of on the last? Pheidippides: Why, I fancy they are subject to the same weakness as the foretasters — in their desire to grab the pledges as early as possible, they 'foretaste' them by a whole day." Pherecrates also mentions foretasters in Savages: "Do not wonder; for we are foretasters, though you do not know it." And Philyllius in Heracles: "Shall I tell you then, so please you, who I am? I am one of the foretasters, and my name is Dorpia (eve of the festival)." I also find a decree passed at Athens in the archonship of Cephisodorus [323/2 BCE], in which the "foretasters" are a kind of college, exactly like the order called Parasitoi. It runs thus: "On the motion of Phocus, in order that the Council may celebrate the Apaturia in company with all other Athenians according to ancestral practice, be it decreed by the Council that its members be dismissed during those days on which all the other officials entitled to a holiday are celebrating, for five days beginning with the day on which the Foretasters begin the celebration." That the ancients used to have also the foretasters called progeustae Xenophon tells us in the work entitled Hieron, or The Tyrant's Character: "The tyrant lives in distrust even of food and drink; why, instead of being the first to offer the gods the consecrating morsel, they bid their serving-men take a taste first because of their suspicion that even in this rite they may eat or drink something harmful." And Anaxilas says in Calypso: [172a] "First, the old woman will be the foretaster of your wine."

§ 4.72   Again, the men of earlier times called those who made cakes, and especially those who made the large flat-cakes, "artisans." Menander, in Sham Heracles, scolding the cooks because they undertake matters which are none of their business, says: "Cook, in my eyes you are very obnoxious. 'How many tables are we going to set?' It's the third time, already, that you have asked that. We are including for the sacrifice one little pig; but whether we shall set up eight tables or only one, what difference does that make to you? Serve the dinner today! You haven't any rich titbits to make, nor the kind of sauces which you usually mix in it, consisting of honey, sifted flour, and eggs; no, for nowadays things are completely turned round. It is the cook who makes cakes in moulds, bakes flat-cakes, boils groats and serves them after the salt-fish, and then a dish in fig-leaves and some grapes. Meanwhile the "artisan," a woman, posted to rival him, roasts bits of meat and thrushes as if for dessert; and as a consequence the guest expecting "dinner" has dessert to eat, but after anointing himself and putting on a wreath he again eats a "dinner" of honey-cakes — with thrushes!" That the duties of their office had been separate, the "artisans" looking after the cakes while the cooks saw to the preparation of fish and meat, is clearly shown by Antiphanes in Chrysis thus: "Four flute-girls have to be paid, and a dozen cooks and artisans, who demand honey by the bowl-ful." Menander in The Artisan: "A. What does this mean, slave? Zeus is my witness, you have come forth with bustling briskness. DB. Ay, for we have creations to create, and so we the whole night long have lain sleepless; even now there is very much still unfinished on our hands." Seleucus says that Panyassis was the first to mention cakes in the account which he gives of human sacrifice among the Egyptians; he says that upon the victims they placed many cakes, "and many nestling fowls," although even before him Stesichorus or Ibycus, in the poem entitled The Games, had said that presents were brought to the maiden, "sesame cakes, groats, oil-and honey cakes, other sweet cakes, and yellow honey." To show that this poem is by Stesichorus, the poet Simonides is a very competent witness, for he, in telling the story of Meleager, says: "Who at point of spear overcame all the warriors, driving them beyond the eddying Anaurus out of Iolcus, rich in grapes. For thus did Homer and Stesichorus sing to the folk." Indeed, Stesichorus has this verse in the poem just cited, The Games: "For Amphiaraus won in leaping, but Meleager with the javelin."

§ 4.73   I am not unaware, either, of what Apollodorus of Athens has said concerning the people of Delos, that they used to supply the services of cooks and "table-makers" to all who came to Delos for the sacred rites, and that they had names derived from their functions, such as Barley-Witches and Rounders; [173a] because throughout the day during the festivals, as Aristophanes says, they moulded barley-cakes and offered them, as to women, kneaded round. And even to this day some of them are called Porcellians, or Rammers, or Kitchen-folk, or Sesames, or Kitchen-bucks, or Meat-boys, or Fish-slingers, while of the women some are called Cummin-blows, while all share the common name of Table-dodgers, because they have to dodge among meat-trays (eleoi) as they serve the food during the festivals. Now the eleos is the cook's table. Homer: "When, then, he had roasted and placed upon trays." Hence Polycraton of Rhenaea, the son of Crithon, when he brought suit against them did not name them Delians, but brought charges against the "commonwealth of table-dodgers." And even the law of the Amphictyons requires that water shall be supplied by "table-dodgers," meaning the "table-makers" and servants of that sort. Criton the comic poet, in The Busybody, calls the Delians "parasites of the god" in these lines: "He, causing a Phoenician skipper, master of a mighty purse, to give up his voyage, and compelling him to bring two ships to anchor, wanted to go from Peiraeus to Delos, because he had heard that that was the one place in all the world which was reputed to possess three blessings for a parasite — a market well supplied with delicacies, a throng of idlers from all parts, and the Delians the very parasites of the god."

§ 4.74  Achaeus of Eretria, in the satyric play Alcmeon, calls the people of Delphi "spiced-gravy-makers" in these lines: "I am sick of looking at spiced-gravy-makers," inasmuch as after trimming the meat of sacrifice they cooked it and served it with spiced sauces. And having regard to that Aristophanes also said: "But thou, Phoebus, who dost whet most numerous knives of the Delphians, and dost teach thy ministers betimes." And in the lines which follow Achaeus says: "Who is he that remains hiding low, you who bear the same name with Sarre cleavers?" The chorus of satyrs, in fact, deride the Delphians for their assiduous devotion to sacrifices and festivities. And Semos, in the fourth book of the History of Delos, says that "to the Delphians who came to Delos the Delians furnished salt, vinegar, oil, fuel, and bedding." And Aristotle (or Theophrastus), speaking in his Commentaries of the Magnesians who dwell on the Maeander river, says that they are colonists from Delphi, and represents them as offering the same services to any foreigners who come among them. He says: "The Magnesians who dwell beside the Maeander river are consecrated to the god, being colonists of Delphi, and they offer to travellers shelter, salt, oil, and vinegar; also a lamp, beds, bedding, and tables." Demetrius of Skepsis, in the sixteenth book of his Trojan Battle-order, says that in Laconia, beside the road called "Hyacinth," there is a shrine of the heroes Matton ("Kneader") and Ceraon ("Mixer") which has been set up by the slaves who make the barley-cakes and mix the wine at the public mess. [174a] The same authority, in the twenty-fourth book of the same work, records a hero Daites ("Feaster") honoured among the Trojans, who is mentioned by Mimnermus. And in Cyprus, Hegesander of Delphi says, Zeus is worshipped under the title "Companion at the Feast" and "Entrail-slicer."

§ 4.75   While many remarks of this nature were still being made, there was heard from a neighbouring house the sound of a water-organ; it was very sweet and joyous, so that we all turned our attention to it, charmed by its tunefulness. And Ulpian, with a glance at the musician Alceides, said, "Do you hear, maestro, that beautiful harmony which has lured us all, completely beguiled you its music? It is not like the 'single-pipe' so common among you Alexandrians, which causes pain to the listeners rather than any musical delight." And Alceides says: "And yet that instrument, the water-organ, whether belonging to the class of string or wind instruments, as you choose, is the invention of one of our own Alexandrians, a barber by trade; and his name was Ctesibius. Aristocles relates this, speaking in some such fashion as this in his work On Choruses: 'The question is debated whether the water-organ belongs to the wind or the stringed instruments. Now Aristoxenus, to be sure, does not know of it; but it is said that Plato imparted a slight hint of its construction in having made a time-piece for use at night which resembled a water-organ, being a very large water-clock. And in fact the water-organ does look like a water-clock. Therefore it cannot be regarded as a stringed instrument or a percussion instrument, but perhaps may be described as a wind instrument, since wind is forced into it by the water. For the pipes are set low in water, and as the water is briskly agitated by a boy, air is released in the pipes through certain valves which fit into the pipes from one side of the organ to the other, and a pleasant sound is produced. The organ is shaped like a round altar, and is said to have been invented by Ctesibius, a barber who lived there in Aspendia during the reign of the second Euergetes (Ptolemy VIII); and they say that he became very famous; he, indeed, even taught his wife Thais.' Tryphon, in the third book On the Use of Terms (the treatise has to do with pipes and instruments), says that Ctesibius the engineer wrote an account of the water-organ. I am not sure whether he is mistaken in the name. Aristoxenus, it is true, prefers string and percussion instruments to wind instruments, alleging that wind instruments are too easy; for, he says, many persons, like shepherds, can play the flute and the Pan's pipe without having been taught.

§ 4.76   All this, Ulpian, I have to tell you concerning the water-organ. Yes, I may add that the Phoenicians, according to Xenophon, used 'gingras' pipes, which were only nine inches long, and gave forth a tone high-pitched and plaintive. These are used also by the Carians in their songs of mourning; unless, to be sure, Caria was also called Phoenicia, examples for which may be found in Corinna and in Bacchylides. Pipes were called gingri by the Phoenicians, and were associated with the laments for Adonis; [175a] for you Phoenicians call Adonis Gingras, as Democleides records. The gingras pipes are mentioned by Antiphanes in The Physician, Menander in The Carian Wailing-woman, and Amphis in Dithyrambus; his words are as follows: 'A. But I like the gingras, that most clever device. B. But what is the gingras? A. A new invention of mine, which, to be sure, I have never yet displayed in the theatre, though it has already come into fashion at Athenian symposia. B. Why don't you introduce it to the mob? A. Because I am waiting for a very enterprising tribe to adopt it. For I am sure that it will revolutionize everything with the trident of applause.' And Axionicus in Lover of Euripides: 'For both have such a morbid passion for the lyrics of Euripides, that everything else in their eyes seems the wail of a scrannel (gingras) pipe and a mighty bore.'

§ 4.77   "How much better, wisest Ulpian, this water-organ is than the so called nablas, which the parodist Sopater, in the play entitled The Portal, says is likewise an invention of Phoenicians. These are his words: 'Nor has the deep-toned thrum of the Sidonian nablas passed from the strings.' And in The Slavey of Mystacus he says: 'In the articulation of its lines the nablas is not pretty; fixed in its ribs is lifeless lotus wood, which gives forth a breathing music. None was ever stirred to hail with cries of evoe! the melodious band of pleasure.' Philemon in The Fancy Man: 'A. We ought to have with us, Parmenon, a flute-girl, or a nablas. P. And what is the nablas? A. You don't know, lunatic? P. Not I, by Zeus. A. What can you mean? You don't know a nablas? Then you don't know what anything good is. Don't you even know what a sambuca-player is?' "As for the instrument called the 'triangle' Juba, in the fourth book of his History of the Stage, says that it is a Syrian invention, as is also the so called 'lyre-Phoenician' . . . and the 'sambuca.' But this last instrument Neanthes of Cyzicus, in Book I of his Annals, says was the invention of Ibycus, the well-known poet of Rhegium, as the 'barbiton' was an invention of Anacreon. Since you run down us Alexandrians as being unmusical, and continually name the 'single-pipe' as widely used in our country, listen now to what I can tell you offhand about it.

§ 4.78  Juba, in the before-mentioned history, says that the Egyptians call the 'single-pipe' an invention of Osiris, just as they do the cross-flute which is called the photinx; for the mention of this also I will cite a distinguished authority. It is true, to be sure, that the photinx is a pipe which is peculiar to our country; but the 'single-pipe' is mentioned thus by Sophocles in Thamyras: 'Gone are the strains of the plucked harp strings, gone the lyres and the single-pipes in which erstwhile we had delight; Ares, who tars and burns, now desolates our shrines.' And Araros in The Birth of Pan: 'He snatched up a single-pipe straightway, you can't conceive how deftly, and began to leap with light step.' [176a] Anaxandrides in The Treasure: 'Picking up a single-pipe I began to play the hymeneal song.' And in The Cup-bearer: 'A. What have you done with my single-pipe, you Syrian? B. Single-pipe? What do you mean? A. The reed.' Sopater in Bacchis: 'He sounded the strain from the single-pipe.' "Protagorides of Cyzicus, in the second book of his work On the Games at Daphne, says: 'He has laid fingers to every instrument, one after the other — castanets, tambourine, pandura, and on the sweet single-pipe he hums again the sweetest scales.' And Poseidonius, the philosopher of the Stoa, narrating the story of the war between the Apameans and Larisaeans, in the third book of his Histories writes the following: 'They grasped daggers and small lances covered with rust and dirt; they put on hats with visors, which afforded shade, but did not prevent breathing at the throat; they carried with them drinking-horns full of wine and food of every variety, and beside these lay small flutes and single-pipes, implements of revel, not of battle.' (But I am not ignorant that Amerias of Macedon in his Dialect Dictionary says that the single-pipe is called 'tityrine.')

§ 4.79   So now you have, good Ulpian, the authority for the word photinx; and that the 'single-piper' was what is today called 'reed-piper' is plainly attested by what Hedylus says in the following lines of epigrammatic verse: 'Beneath this mound Theon dwells, he of the single-pipe, the sweet flute-player, the charmer who accompanied the mimes on the stage. When blind with age he had even a son, Scirpalus, whom when a babe he called Scirpalus, son of Ready-hand, as he sang at his nativity; for he bore this name to signify the skill of his hands. So piped he the drunken bagatelles of the Muses sung by Glauce, or the tune of the Stutterer who delights in the drinking of unmixed wine, or of Cotalus or Pacalus. Nay, then, of Theon the reed-piper say, Farewell, Theon!' Precisely, then, as they call persons who play on a reed-pipe (calamus) calamaulae, so do they call those who play on the rappa, which is also a reed, rappaulae, as Amerias of Macedon tells us in his Dialect Dictionary. "I would have you know, most noble Ulpian, that there is no record in history of other people more musical than the Alexandrians, and I am not speaking merely of singing to the harp, for even the humblest layman among us, even one who has never learned his ABC, is so familiar with that, that he can immediately detect the mistakes which occur in striking the notes; no, even when it comes to pipes, they are most musical; not merely the pipes called 'virginal' and 'child' but also those called 'virile,' which again are called 'complete' and 'super-complete,' also the pipes used to accompany harps, as well as the 'finger'-pipes. And these are not all; for the pipes called 'elymi,' which are mentioned by Sophocles in Niobe and in The Tambourine-Players, are none other, as we hear, than the 'Phrygian' pipes with which also the Alexandrians are well acquainted. They know, too, of the pipes with two holes, of those again of middle size, and of those called 'low-bore.' The 'elymi' pipes are mentioned also by Callias in Shackled. [177a] Juba says that they are an invention of Phrygians, and that they are also called 'staff'-pipes, being like the staff in thickness. Cyprians used them as well, says the younger Cratinus in Theramenes. I know also of those called half-holed, about which Anacreon says: 'Who hath directed his desire toward lovely youth, and dances to the strains of tender half-hole pipes?' These are shorter than the 'complete' pipes. Aeschylus, at any rate, in a figure of speech says in Ixion: 'The half-holed' (that is, the smaller) 'is easily engulfed by the great.' They are the same as those called 'child' pipes, which are not adapted to the public games, but are used at dinner-parties; that is why Anacreon calls them 'tender.'

§ 4.80   I know of other kinds of pipes as well — the 'tragic,' the pipes used by women impersonating men, and the pipes used for accompanying a harp, which are mentioned by Ephorus in Inventions and Euphranor the Pythagorean in his book On Pipes, and again Alexis also . . . in his own work On Pipes. The reed-pipe is called 'tityrine' among the Dorians of Italy, as Artemidorus, the disciple of Aristophanes, records in the second book of his Doric Dialect, 'The magadis is a pipe.' And again: 'That named magadis can produce at the same moment a high and a low tone, as Anaxandrides says in The Drill-Sergeant: 'With my magadis I will babble to you something at once soft and loud." ' But the so called 'lotus'-pipes are what the Alexandrians call 'photinges'; they are made of lotus, as it is called, which is a wood that grows in Libya. Juba says that the pipe made from fawn's legs is an invention of Thebans. Tryphon says that the pipes called 'ivory' were bored by Phoenicians. "But I know that the 'magadis' is also a stringed instrument like the 'kithara,' 'lyra,' or 'barbiton.' The epic poet Euphorion, in his treatise on the Isthmian Games, says that 'the persons now called nablas-players, panduristae, and sambuca-players use no newly invented instrument; for the 'baromos' and the 'barbiton,' which Sappho and Anacreon mention, the 'magadis,' the 'triangles,' and 'sambucas' are old. In Mitylene, at any rate, one of the Muses is portrayed by Lesbothemis holding a sambuca.' Aristoxenus calls foreign all stringed instruments bearing the name of 'phoenix,' 'pectis,' 'magadis,' 'sambuca,' 'triangle,' 'clepsiamb,' 'scindapsus' and the 'nine-stringed,' as it is called. Plato, in the third book of The Republic says: ' We shall not, then," said I, "require an instrument of many strings or one on which all the musical modes can be played in our songs and lyrics." "Plainly not," said he. [183a] "As for triangles, then, and pectides, and all instruments which have many strings and can be played in many modes . . . ."

§ 4.81   'The 'scindapsus' is an instrument with four strings, as the parodist Matron says in these lines: 'And they hung it not to the peg on which lay outspread the tetrachord scindapsus of the woman who knew not the distaff. Theopompus, the epic poet of Colophon, also mentions it in the poem called Little Chariot: 'Holding in his arms a mighty lyre-like scindapsus, made of withes from the lusty willow.' And Anaxilas in The Harp-maker: 'I used to make barbiti, trichords, pectides, citharas, lyres, scindapsi.' Sopater, in the play entitled The Slavey of Mystacus, says that the 'pectis' has two strings; his words are: 'And the two-stringed pectis, which boasts a barbaric muse, has somehow been placed in thy hand.' Epicharmus mentions airs for the harp (pariambides) in Periallus thus: 'Semele dances; and one skilled in the cithara pipes for them harp airs in Accompaniment; and she makes merry as she listens to the loud crackle of the tones.' "Alexander of Cythera, as Juba says, perfected the 'psaltery' with a larger number of strings, and since in his old age he lived in the city of Ephesus, he dedicated this invention, as the most ingenious product of his skill, in the temple of Artemis. Juba also mentions the 'lyre-Phoenician' and the 'epigoneum,' which today, although it has been re-fashioned into an upright psaltery, still preserves the name of the man who brought it into use. Epigonus was by birth an Ambraciot, but by adoption he was a citizen of Sikyon. Being very talented, he could play on the harp with the bare hand without a plectrum. I say then, that the Alexandrians are well acquainted with all these instruments before mentioned, as well as with the pipes, and they are skilled in their use; I will myself give you an exhibition with any of the instruments with which you wish to test me, although there are many other persons in my country more musical than I.

§ 4.82   My fellow-citizen Alexander (he has lately died) gave a public recital with the instrument called the triangle, and sent all Rome into such a state of music-madness that most Romans can repeat his tunes. This 'triangle' is mentioned by Sophocles in The Mysians thus: 'Oft resounds the Phrygian triangle, and with answering strains the harmony of the Lydian pectis sings'; also in Thamyras. So Aristophanes in The Men of Dinnerville, Theopompus in Penelope. Eupolis in The Dyers says: 'Who nicely beats the tambourine and sounds the strings of the triangle.' The so called 'pandura' is mentioned by Euphorion, as has already been said, and by Protagorides in the second book of The Games at Daphne. Pythagoras, he who wrote on the Red Sea, [184a] says that the Troglodytes make the pandura out of the white mangrove which grows in the sea. Horns and trumpets are an invention of the Etruscans. Metrodorus of Chios, in his Trojan History says that Marsyas invented the Pan's-pipe ('syrinx') and played it in Celaenae, since his predecessors had piped on one reed only. And Euphorion the epic poet, in his work on Lyric Poets, says that Hermes invented the one-reeded syrinx (though some record that Seuthes and Rhomnaces the Maedi were the inventors), Silenus the many-reeded syrinx, and Marsyas the one which is fastened by wax.

§ 4.83   "This you have, O word-chaser Ulpian, from the lips of us Alexandrians who have devoted ourselves to the study of 'single-pipes.' You, indeed, are not aware that Menecles, the historian of Barca, and again Andron of Alexandria, in his Chronicles, record that the Alexandrians were the teachers of all Greeks and barbarians at a time when the entire system of general education had broken down by reason of the continually recurring disturbances which took place in the period of Alexander's successors. I say, then, a rejuvenation of all culture was again brought about in the reign of the seventh Ptolemy who ruled over Egypt, the king who received from the Alexandrians appropriately the name of Malefactor. For he murdered many of the Alexandrians; not a few he sent into exile, and filled the islands and towns with men who had grown up with his brother — philologians, philosophers, mathematicians, musicians, painters, athletic trainers, physicians, and many other men of skill in their profession. And so they, reduced by poverty to teaching what they knew, instructed many distinguished men.

§ 4.84   But all Greeks of the olden time were devoted to music; wherefore even flute-playing was very popular. Chamaeleon of Heracleia, at any rate, in the Hortatory Tract, as it is entitled, says that all Lacedemonians and Thebans learned to play on the pipes, as did also the Heracleots of Pontus in his time, as well as the most distinguished Athenians — Callias the son of Hipponicus and Critias the son of Callaeschrus. Duris, in his work on Euripides and Sophocles, says that Alcibiades learned flute-playing from no ordinary teacher, but from Pronomus, who had acquired very great repute. Aristoxenus, also, says that Epaminondas of Thebes learned to play the flute in the schools of Olympiodorus and Orthagoras. Many even of the Pythagoreans were devoted to flute-playing, as Euphranor, Archytas, Philolaus, and not a few others. In fact Euphranor has left a treatise on pipes; likewise also Archytas. And Aristophanes, in The Men of Dinnerville, makes clear the interest in this subject when he says: 'I am one who have been worn flabby by the use of pipes and harps; and now you bid me go dig?' Phrynichus in The Incubus: 'Surely you never taught this fellow to play the harp and pipes?' And Epicharmus says in The Muses that even Athena played the 'enoplic' on the pipes for the Dioscuri. Ion, in Phoenix or Caeneus, calls the pipe a cock, in these words: [185a] 'And upon that the pipe, a cock, crowed forth its Lydian hymn.' But in Sentinels he calls the cock and Idaean Pan's pipe, in these words: 'And the Pan's pipe, Idaean cock, surges forth.' In the second Phoenix the same Ion says: 'Playing a loud and deep-voiced pipe, with tripping metre,' meaning the Phrygian thereby; for it is deep and grave, and hence they tie the piece of horn to it, answering to the mouthpiece of trumpets." Upon this, let the present book come to its close, friend Timocrates, since it has taken on sufficient length.

§ 5.1   [1a] BOOK V (185)
Now, since we, Timocrates, have exhausted in what has gone before so much talk on the subject of symposia, though we have omitted the most useful elements of them, I mean those things which the divine Homer introduced by the way, I will now bring to mind also what was said on these matters by the most excellent Masurius. For to adopt the words of the noble Agathon, "Thus do we render our avocation a vocation, but contrive to make our vocation an avocation." Be that as it may, the poet, speaking of Menelaus, says: "him they found giving a marriage-feast to many kinsmen in his hall for his son and his blameless daughter;" since it is the established custom to hold symposia in connexion with the wedding ceremony, partly to honour the gods of marriage, and partly to serve as a kind of public witness to the union. As for the symposium which is tendered to strangers, the king of Lycia teaches what the nature of it will be when he gives munificent welcome to Bellerophon: "Nine days he received him as his guest, and nine oxen did he butcher."

§ 5.2   For wine seems to possess a power which draws to friendship, by lightly warming and fusing the soul. Hence they did not even ask their guests too soon who they were, but postponed that until later, as though they honored the mere act of hospitality, and not the individual and personal in us. The old lawgivers, providing for the modern dinners, and over and above these the dinners of the sacred bands, the brotherhood dinners, and again those which are called "orgeonic." [186a] Anyway, there are in the city meetings of many philosophic sects — Diogenists, Antipatrists, so-called, and Panaetiasts. Theophrastus even bequeathed money for a meeting of this character, not — Heaven forbid! — that they should indulge in intemperance when they came together, but that they might carry out with decency and refinement the practices which accord with the idea of the symposium. And every day the presiding magistrates used to assemble parties for the dinner which were decent and salutary for the state. At any rate, it was to a symposium of this kind, Demosthenes says, that report came of the capture of Elateia: "For it was evening, and someone came to the prytanes with the report that Elateia had been captured." And the philosophers also made it their business to gather young men together and dine in their company with due regard to some fixed standard. At any rate, there were Symposium Laws by Xenocrates of the Academy, and again by Aristotle. The messes at Sparta, and the men's halls among the Cretans, are conducted by the States with all possible care. Wherefore someone has said, not badly: "Friendly comrades should not abstain too long from the symposium; for that is the most delightful way to remember each other." The philosopher Antipater once held a symposium at which he required all who came to discuss some disputed question of the sophists. — He says that Arcesilaus was invited to a symposium, and having been assigned to a couch with a person who ate voraciously, he was unable to enjoy anything himself; and when one of the company handed food across to him, he said, "Thanks to you, sir; but to Telephus — what I have in mind!" It so happened that the man who ate so greedily was named Telephus. — And Zeno, when one of the gourmands in his company snatched away the upper part of the fish at the very moment when it was set before them, with a sudden twist snatched it away again himself, while he accompanied the action with the quotation: "But Ino, for her part, finished the work on the other side." And Socrates, seeing a man helping himself immoderately to the relish, said, "Fellow-guests, who is it among you that treats bread like a relish, but a relish like bread?"

§ 5.3   We will now talk about the Homeric symposia. In these, namely, the poet distinguishes times, persons, and occasions. This feature Xenophon and Plato rightly copied, for at the beginning of their treatises they explain the occasion of the symposium, and who are present. But Epicurus specifies no place, no time; he has no introduction whatever. One has to guess, therefore, how it comes about that a man with cup in hand suddenly propounds questions as though he were discoursing before a class. (Aristotle says that it is unseemly to arrive at a symposium unbathed and covered with dust.) Then, too, Homer clearly teaches who are to be invited, showing that it is our duty to bid the best men and those who are held in esteem, when he says: "And he summoned the old men, the noble lords of all the Achaeans." This is not the way which Hesiod prescribes; for he requires that we invite our neighbors too: "Above all summon him who dwells nigh thee." But really this is the kind of symposium appropriate to Boeotian insensibility, and chimes well with that most man-hating of the proverbs, [187a] "Friends who dwell afar are not friends." For must it not be absurd that friendship should be determined by position and not by disposition? Well, as I was saying, in Homer, after the drinking "For them the old man, the very first of all, began to weave his counsel;" whereas among those who do not conduct symposia discreetly, "For them the flatterer, the very first of all, began to weave his mockery." And further, Homer introduces guests who differ in their ages and views of life — Nestor, Ajax, Odysseus — all of whom, speaking generally, strive after excellence, but have set out in specifically diverse paths to find it. Epicurus, on the other hand, introduced none but prophets of atoms, although he had before him these as his models, I mean, the variety of symposia in the Poet, and the charm of Plato and Xenophon as well. Of the last Twelve Tables Plato introduced as disputants the physician Eryximachus, then the poet Aristophanes, then, one after another, men who followed different professions in life; Xenophon, for his part, also interspersed some who followed no profession. Homer, therefore, has done much better in that he sets before us different symposia; for every symposium can be better understood by comparison and contrary with others. For example, in the case of the suitors we find in him the kind of symposium which would take place when lusty young men are given over to carousals and love affairs; while in the case of the Phaeacians, we have something more sedate than that of these young men, and yet full of delight. To this again, he has placed in contrast the symposia which belong to army life, over against those which were conducted more after the manner of civil life, in a sober way. Still again, by contrast, he has distinguished those which have the character of a public feature, from those which represent a gathering of intimate friends. But Epicurus has portrayed solely a symposium of philosophers.

§ 5.4  Homer has also taught us who need not be invited, but may come of their own accord, by the example of one relative fittingly pointing out the presence of others similarly connected: "Of his own accord came to him Menelaus, good at the cry." For it is plain that neither a brother, nor parents, nor wife need be invited, nor anyone else whom one holds in equal esteem with these; otherwise it would be cold and unfriendly. And yet some authorities have added a verse which further explains the reason: "For he knew in his heart that his brother was troubled" — as though it were necessary to tell the reason why a brother might come to dinner of his own accord, when the reason which we now give is the probable one. Can he, for example, assert that Menelaus did not know that his brother was giving a feast? Would that not be ridiculous, when the slaughtering of the oxen was in plain singular and known to all? Why then would he have come if he had not known that? Or does he mean — of all things under Heaven! — that Menelaus, knowing that his brother was distracted, excused the omission of the invitation, and, adapting himself to the circumstances, came of his own accord? That would be as if he meant that he had come, though uninvited, in order that they might not look at each other the next morning with suspicion, the one with shame, the other with reproach! On the contrary, it would have been absurd that Agamemnon should forget his brother, especially when it was for his sake that he was at the moment offering sacrifice, and had assumed the conduct of the war as well, and moreover had invited those who were not related to him by birth nor associated with his country. Athenocles of Cyzicus, with a better understanding of the Homeric poetry than Aristarchus, explains to us with greater refinement that Homer passed Menelaus over without mention because he was more closely related in kinship to Agamemnon. And Demetrius of Phalerum declared that the inclusion of the verse, "for he knew in his heart that his brother was troubled," is awkward and foreign to the poet's style, and imputes meanness to the characters. "For," says he, "I think that every man of refinement has someone, either relative or friend, to whom he can go when a feast is on without waiting for an invitation."

§ 5.5   And Plato, in The Symposium, has this to say on the same subject: "That we," he says, "may, by an alteration, render null and void the proverb to the effect that 'good men go of their own accord to the feast of good men.' For Homer, indeed, may not only have rendered it null and void, but actually outraged it; for he represented Agamemnon as brave in matters of war, but Menelaus as a slack warrior; yet, when Agamemnon was holding a sacrificial feast, he represented the inferior man as going uninvited to the dinner of the better man." Bacchylides, telling of how Heracles went to the house of Ceyx, says: "He halted at the stone threshold, and they were making ready a feast, and thus spake he: 'Of their own accord just mean approach the feasts, heaped high, of good men.'" Now of the proverbs, one says, "Of their own accord brave men go to the feasts of brave men," the other, "of their own accord brave men go to the feasts of cowards." But it is without a warrant, at any rate, that Plato thought Menelaus a coward, since Homer calls him "dear to Ares," and says that he was the only one who performed feats of valor in behalf of Patroclus, and above all others was eager to fight in single combat against Hector, although he was inferior to him in physical strength. And of all who were in the army he was the only one of whom the poet said: "And among them he himself moved, confident in his zeal." Now if his enemy, who reviled him, called him a "slack warrior," and Plato on that account assumes that he was really slack, he could not be too quick in ranking Agamemnon also among the poltroons (although Plato himself says that he was brave), seeing that this verse is said of Agamemnon: "Heavy with wine, with the eyes of a dog and the heart of a deer." The truth is that if a thing is said in Homer, it is not always Homer who says it. How, in fact, could Menelaus be a coward — he the only one to keep Hector away from the body of Patroclus, killing Euphorbus and spoiling him of his arms in the very midst of the Trojans? That Plato has not even given thorough attention to the verse which he reprehended is a curious fact; in it Menelaus is called "good at the cry." For Homer habitually uses this epithet of the bravest, since the ancients called the battle a "cry."

§ 5.6   Being exact in all matters, Homer has not omitted this small detail — the necessity of caring for the body and bathing before going to dinner. In the case of Odysseus, at any rate, he says, just before the feast among the Phaeacians: "Straightway the housekeeper bade him bathe." And of the men in the retinue of Telemachus: "Then went they to the well-polished tubs and bathed." "For it was unseemly," says Aristotle, "to arrive at the symposium covered with sweat and dust." For the man of refinement must not be slovenly, or dirty, or have pleasure in filth, according to Heraclitus. Also, the one who arrives first at another's house for dinner must not rush forthwith to the symposium to fill his belly, but he should previously accord something to the aesthetic sense, and take notice of the host's house. In fact, Homer has not omitted this point either: "They themselves went into the wondrous house; and they, having gazed upon it, admired exceedingly the hall of the king fostered by Zeus, for it was as the shining of the sun or the moon in the high-roofed hall of glorious Menelaus." And Aristophanes, in the Wasps, shows the harsh and litigious old man in process of being converted to a gentle mode of life by his son: "Cease! But come now, this way; lay yourself down and learn also how to be a man of conviviality and sociability." And after instructing him how he is to recline he says: "Now, speak approvingly of one of the vessels, gaze at the ceiling, admire the tapestries in the court."

§ 5.7   Again, Homer tells us what we are to do before we beg to eat, namely, we are to offer as first-fruits some of the food to the gods. At any rate, the men in the company of Odysseus, even when they were in the Cyclops's cave: 'Therefore" (they say) "we lighted a fire and offered sacrifice, and then we took ourselves and ate of the cheeses." And Achilles, although the envoys had come in haste in the mid-watches of the night, none the less "bade Patroclus, his companion, to offer sacrifice to the gods; and he lad first-offerings on the fire." Homer also shows us the feasters at least offering libations: "Young men filled the mixing-bowls to the brim with wine, and then measured it out to all, after they had poured the drink-offering into the cups. Then, when they had made libation. . . ." All of which Plato also retains in his symposium. For after the eating was over, he says that they offered libation and thanksgiving to the god with the customary honors. Similarly also Xenophon. But with Epicurus there is no libation, no preliminary offering to the gods; on the contrary, it is like what Simonides says of the lawless woman: "Oft times she eats up the offerings before they are consecrated."

§ 5.8   As to the proper mixing of wine, they say indeed that the Athenians were taught this by their king Amphictyon, and for that reason they founded a shrine to "upright" Dionysus. For the god of wine is really upright and does not totter when he is drunk in just proportions and diluted. "For wine is silly in its commands; it impels even the very prudent to sing much, and rouses him even to laugh effeminately and to dance, and inspires a word which were better unspoken." Homer indeed does not call wine "silly" in the sense of foolish and causing foolish actions; he does not even bid us be of gloomy countenance, refusing to sing or laugh, or on occasion even indulging in proper measure in the dance. No, Homer is not so boorish or stiff; on the contrary, he understood the nice differences of quantity and quality in all of these actions. Hence he did not say that wine makes the very prudent "sing," but he says that it makes him "sing much," [187c] that is, immoderately and so excessively as to be a nuisance besides; nor does he say, I am sure, that it makes men laugh and dance; but taking the word "effeminately" as belonging with both verbs, he tries to curb the unmanly propensity in that direction: "And rouses him even to laugh and to dance effeminately." But with Plato none of these amusements is kept within bounds; on the contrary, they drink so much that they cannot stand on their own feet. For just look at Alcibiades, who comes rioting in, and observe how disgracefully he behaves; all the others also drain the two-quart cooler, once they had got the excuse that Alcibiades had dragged them into it. They behaved not as Homer's heroes: "But when they had made libation and drunk to their heart's content." We must then draw the line at some of these practices once for all; in others, however, we may indulge moderately, turning our regard upon them in only slight degree, and as it were treating them as a kind of ornament, as Homer says: "The song and the dance; for they are the ornaments of the feast."

§ 5.9   In general, everything which verges on scenes such as these Homer has ascribed to the suitors or to the Phaeacians, but never to Nestor or Menelaus. The school of Aristarchus, not understanding this in the case of the wedding-feast, and not observing that the entertainment was continuous, the principal days — those on which the bride had been taken home by the groom — having already passed; nor observing that the wedding of Megapenthes was already over, and that Menelaus and Helen were eating quite alone; the understanding this, I say, but being misled by the first verse, "Him they found giving a marriage feast to many of his kinsmen," they have added the following verses: "Thus did they feast in the large high-roofed hall, neighbors and kinsmen of glorious Menelaus, making merry; and among them the divine minstrel sang as he played the lyre, and two tumblers, leaders of the dance, whirled about by themselves in the midst of them." These verses they have taken over from The Making of the Arms, along with the very selfsame mistake in the use of words. For it was not the tumblers who were leaders of the dance, but they surely danced with the minstrel as leader. For "leading" properly belongs to the lyre. Hence Hesiod says in The Shield: "And the goddesses, the Muses of Pieria, led the song." And Archilochus: "I myself am leader in the Lesbian paean to the accompaniment of the flute." Stesichorus calls the Muse "leader of song," while Pindar calls preludes "leaders of the choral bands." Diodorus, of the school of Aristophanes, deleted the entire passage about the wedding, thinking that only the opening days of it were meant, and taking no account of the concluding portion of the festival or, again, of the aftermath of the party. Consequently Diodorus wishes to write: "Two tumblers among themselves " (with the rough breathing), thus forcing a solecism. For Homer's phrase means, "they whirled about by themselves, i.e. "separately," but to use the form heautous for that is a solecism.

§ 5.10   As I was saying, however, the introduction of special entertainments into this sober kind of symposium is an intrusion which has made its way over from the Cretan chorus, about which the poet says, [187d]in The Making of the Arms: "And upon it he, the halting one, of exceeding fame, skilfully wrought a choral band, like that which Daedalus once in wide Cnossus trained for Ariadne of the beautiful locks. In that band danced young men and maidens worth many cows, holding each other's hands at the wrist." For to these verses he adds: "And large was the throng that stood about the lovely chorus, making merry; and among them the divine minstrel sang as he played the lyre, and two tumblers, leaders of the dance, whirled about but themselves in the midst of them." Not only, therefore, is dancing indigenous among the Cretans, but so also is tumbling. Hence one says to Meriones, who is a Cretan: "Meriones, dancer though thou art, soon had my spear put an end to thee forever, if I had but hit thee." Whence lively dances are called Cretan: "Cretan they call the manner, but the instrument is Molossian." "The so-called 'Laconists,'" says Timaeus, "sang in rectangular choruses." Broadly speaking, the music of the Greeks varied; the Athenians held in special esteem the Dionysiac and circular choruses, the Syracusans affected the choral songs of the lampoon-writers, while others again had something different. Aristarchus, however, by interpolating in the symposium of Menelaus verses which did not belong there, has produced a symposium which is foreign to Laconian culture and to that king's sobriety, and what is more, he has even removed the minstrel from the Cretan chorus by cutting down the verses in the following manner: "And large was the throng that stood about the lovely chorus, making merry; and two tumblers, leaders of the dance, whirled about by themselves in the midst of them." Consequently it becomes impossible to emend "leaders," since it is no longer possible to keep the reference to the minstrel.

§ 5.11   That it is not likely that there was any such entertainment in the house of Menelaus is plain from the fact that the entire symposium is carried on by conversation held among the guests themselves; there is no mention whatever of the name of the minstrel, nor even of the song which he sang; nor do Telemachus and his followers pay any attention to him, but rather, as if in a silence and quietness, observe the room; and yet it is not at least unlikely that the sons of the wisest men, Odysseus and Nestor, should be represented in the scene as boorish men, paying no attention, in the manner of rustics, to the entertainments provided for them? Odysseus, at any rate, is attentive to the song-massacres of the Phaeacians: "But Odysseus gazed at the twinkling of their feet, and marveled in his soul," although he had many things to distract him, and could say: "Cares there are in my heart, more than songs." Would not Telemachus, then, be stupid indefatigable, when a minstrel was present and a tumbler as well, he bent his head in a whisper to Peisistratus and conversed about the vessels before them? [187e] Homer, however, like the good artist that he is, perjuries Telemachus as in all things resembling his father. He has, at any rate, represented them both as being recognized by their tears, the one in the court of Alcinous, the other at the court of Menelaus.

§ 5.12   But in the symposium of Epicurus there is an assemblage of flatterers praising one another, while the symposium of Plato is full of men who turn their noses up in jeers at one another; for I pass over in silence what is said about Alcibiades. In Homer, on the other hand, only sober symposia are organized. And some sometimes one gives praise, saying to Menelaus that he dares not speak "In thy presence, whose voice we twain delight in as in the voice of a god." And Homer reproved some of the things said or done not rightly: "And now, if it can in any wise be, yield to me; for I delight not in lamentation signal supping." And again he says: "Telemachus, what a word has escaped the barrier of thy teeth?" [187f] That, surely, is not the mark either of a flatterer or one who turns his nose up. Again, Epicurus in his symposium puts questions about indigestion in order to get omens from it; following that he asks about fevers. What need is there even to speak of the lack of proportion which pervades his style? As for Plato — I pass over the man who was bothered by the hiccups and cured by gargles of water and still more by the insertion of a straw to tickle his nose and make him sneeze; for he wanted to introduce fun and mockery — Plato, I say, ridicules Agathon's balanced clauses and antitheses, and also brings on the scene Alcibiades, who avows that he is consumed with lust. Nevertheless, while writing that kind of stuff, they banish Homer from their states! But, as Demochares used to say, you cannot make a lance-head out of savoury, nor a good man of such talk. Plato ridicules not only Alcibiades but also Charmides and Euthydemus and many other young men. This is the characteristic of one who satirizes the city of Athens, the Museum of Hellas, which Pindar called the "prop of Hellas," and which Thucydides, in the epigram on Euripides, called "the Hellas of Hellas," while the Pythian god proclaimed it the "hearth and town-hall of the Hellenes." The reason why he has traduced the young men may be seen in Plato himself. In the case of Alcibiades, he says in the dialogue named from him that he did not begin to have converse with Socrates until he had passed out of his early bloom, when all who lusted for his body had deserted him. He tells us this at the beginning of the dialogue. The contradictory things which he says in the case of Charmides may be learned from the dialogue itself by anyone who wishes. For he represents him inconsistently as sometimes in a state of vertigo and intoxication for love of the lad, and beside himself, and as a fawn cowering before the strength of a lion; and then again he declares that he takes no thought of the lad's beauty.

§ 5.13   Nevertheless, even the symposium described by Xenophon, although it is praised, admits occasions for censure not fewer than these. Callias, for example, gets the symposium together when his favorite Autolycus had been crowned victor in the pancratium at the Panathenaea. [188a] And immediately the guests on the couches give their attention to the lad, even though his father is seated beside him. "For just as when a blaze of light, appearing at night, attracts the eyes of all, so also the beauty of Autolycus draws the gaze of all to itself. And so there was no one present whose soul was not somehow affected by the lad; some, to be sure, lapsed into greater silence, but others began to assume different poses." Homer, on the other hand, has not undertaken to tell us anything of this sort even though he has Helen before him, of whose beauty one of those who sat opposite her uttered words like these, forced from him by the truth: B" 'Tis no cause for anger that Trojans and well-greaved Achaeans should suffer woes a long time for such a woman as she; for she is marvelously like the deathless goddesses in countenance." Yet later he says: "But even so, such though she be, let her go home in the ships." And then there are the young lads who pay a visit to Menelaus, Nestor's son and Telemachus; plied with wine, attending a wedding symposium, they hold their peace in the presence of Helen, as is proper, struck completely dumb before her famous beauty. But Socrates! Why did he tolerate the flute-girls, the boy dancing and playing the lyre, and even the woman who indecently turns somersaults, and then decline the perfume? Nobody, indeed, could have borne his use of it without laughter if he had in mind these verses: "Those pale-faced men, those unshod beggars, you mean, of whom Socrates, poor devil, is one, and Chaerephon." But what follows this is also inconsistent with the strictness of his life. That is to say, Critobulus, a witty lad, pokes fun at Socrates, who is an elderly man and his teacher, saying that he is much uglier than the Sileni. Socrates then matches his beauty, point by point, with that of Critobulus and having chosen as judges the boy and the dancing-girl, proposes as prizes for the winner the kisses of the judges. What young man, I ask, who comes upon this passage, will not be corrupted rather than stimulated to goodness?

§ 5.14   In Homer's account of the symposium of Menelaus, on the other hand, they propound to each other questions as though they were in a company of learned men, and by civilized conversation they delight one another, and us as well. Menelaus, for example, when Telemachus and his associates have returned from the bath and the Accompaniments of the meal have been placed before them, invites them to take their share in these words: "Help yourselves to the food and enjoy yourselves; later, when we have ceased from our dinner, we will ask who ye twain are." Thereupon, as a special mark of kindness, he gave them in addition some of the food that had been placed before himself: "Thus spake he, and took in his hands and placed before them the fat roasted chine of an ox, which they had set before him as his special portion." And after eating in silence, as becomes young men, they talk quietly with one another with heads bent together, not on the subject of food, he says, nor even about their host's maidservants, by whom they had been bathed, but rather about the rich possessions of him who had given them welcome: "Such verily, are the rich possessions that are stored in the house of Zeus." For in this way, Seleucus says, the verse is better written. But Aristarchus writes it not as it should be: [189a] "Such verily, is the courtyard of Olympian Zeus within." For it is not merely the beauty of the house that they admire; how, for example, could there have been amber and silver and ivory on the walls? On the contrary, while they do comment on the house, saying that it has "resounding halls" (such, of course, are halls which are high-roofed and spacious), it is about the vessels they speak in the line, "of gold and amber, yea, and silver and ivory"; after which comes naturally, "Such, verily, are the rich possessions that are stored in the house of Zeus, so countless many are these; wonder holds me as I look upon them." But to the line, "Such, verily, is the courtyard of Olympian Zeus within," it is a non sequitur to add "so countless many are these," being a solecism by reason of the unusual character of the reading.

§ 5.15   Further, the word court-yard (aule) does not even accord with the house. For the word used is of a place across which the air blows, and we speak of "letting a draught through," of a place which receives air from sides. Again there is the instrument called aulos, because the air goes through it, and any foregoing prolonged in a straight line we call aulos, like a stadium, or a gush of blood: "Forthwith a thick gush came from his nostrils;" or of the helmet when it extends straight up from the middle we say that it is "tube-like." At Athens there are certain "sacred hollows" (aulones), as they are called, which Philochorus mentions in the ninth book. The noun meaning "hollows is masculine, as in Thrace, Book IV, and all the historians who write in prose; but in the poets it is feminine. Carcinus, in Achilles: "Into a deep hollow which surrounded the army." And Sophocles in The Scythians: "Crags and caves and hollows by the shore." We must therefore take the word as feminine also in Eratosthenes' Hermes, where we have "A deep hollow runs through it," bathys being for batheia, precisely like 'thelys eerse', "fresh" dew. Everything, then, of this nature is said to be an aule ("court-yard") or an aulon ("hollow"). But in the present instance, in speaking of the king's palace they say aulae ("courts"), as Menander does: "To worship courts and nabobs." And Diphilus: "To worship courts, as it seems to me, stamps one as an exile or a starveling or a rogue from the whipping-post." That is, they are called "courts" because the open spaces in front of the house are large, or because the king's bodyguard bivouac and lie beside the palace. But Homer always uses "court" (αυλή, singular) of the open spaces, where the altar of Zeus Herkeios was placed. Peleus, at least, is found "in the feeding-place of the court; and he held a gold goblet as he poured a libation of sparkling wine upon the blazing victims." And Priam: "In the feeding-places of the court was rolling in the filth." Doubt, too, commands Phemius and his companion: "Nay then, depart from the well-built halls [190a] out of the slaughter into the court." But that Telemachus praised the rich possessions is made clear by Menelaus: "Dear children, no mortal man would Vie with Zeus; for his halls and rich possessions are deathless."

§ 5.16   But enough of this. We must return to the symposium, in which Homer has skilfully found occasion in his story to compare the possessions of one who was dear to him. For Menelaus does not propound it as a question for debate, but with charming insinuation, after he has listened to their praises, he at first does not deny that he is rich; but then, divesting his words of any invidiousness, he says that he holds his possessions "after undergoing many sufferings." Nevertheless he does not presume to compare himself with the gods: "For his (Zeus's) halls and rich possessions are deathless." And after displaying his character, as one who loved his brother, and avowing that it was through fate that he was still alive and enjoying his wealth, he had, by way of contrast, introduced this word of loving friendship: "Would that I dwelt in my halls with but a third portion of this wealth, and that the heroes were safe and sound who perished at that time in wide Troy-land, far from Argos, the pasture-ground of horses." Who, therefore, among the descendants of those who had died for such a man as that, would not regard the grief which they felt for their father's loss as recompensed by this grateful mention of their father? But in order that it might not seem that he cherished the same feeling for all those who had alike displayed good will towards him, he added: "For all these men I mourn not so much, grieved though I am, as I mourn for him, the one who causes sleep and food to be loathsome to me." And that it may not appear that he forgets anyone related to him he has mentioned them by nickname: For him then, I ween, grieve the aged Laertes, and prudent Penelope, and Telemachus, whom he left a new-born child in his house." When Telemachus burst into tears at the mention, Menelaus notices him and at that moment . . . with the entrance of Helen; and she guessed who Telemachus was from family likeness. For women, because of their habit of keeping an eye on each other's honour, are very keen at detecting the points of resemblance which children have with their parents. There follows a speech interjected by Peisistratus, since he must not be in the scene as a mere bodyguard, and after he has talked becomingly about Telemachus's modesty, once more Menelaus makes mention of his love for Odysseus, saying that of all things he would have liked most to grow old in company with Odysseus alone.

§ 5.17   Naturally they weep; but Helen, being a daughter of Zeus, and having learned many counsels from the wise men of Egypt, puts into the wine a drug which is veritably all-healing, and begins a narrative of her experiences with Odysseus while her case is engaged in spinning, a pursuit which she followed not for pleasure, but because she had formed the habit at home. [191a] At any rate, Aphrodite comes before her after the duel, assuming a disguise: "She spake to her, likening herself to an aged crone who cards the wool, and who was wont to prepare for her the fine wool in populous Lacedemon." And Helen's industry is made plain by no mere incident in these lines also: "For her also, at the same time, Adraste set a well-wrought stool; and Alcippe brought a rug of soft wool, Phylo brought a silver wool-basket, which Alcandre, wife of Polybus, had given her." "This, then, her handmaid Phylo brought and placed beside her, overflowing with carded fibers; and in the lay her distaff, holding the violet-dark wool." And it is also likely that she herself was aware of her own skill in handiwork. At any rate, when she presents Telemachus with a robe she says: "This present even I, dear child, offer you, as a memorial of Helen's handiwork, against the season of your longed-for marriage, and for your wife to wear." And this industry reveals the discreetness of her character; for she is not represented as a woman who exults and gives herself airs because of her beauty. She is discovered, at any rate, weaving at the loom and working in many designs: "Her he found in the hall; and she was weaving, at a tall loom, a glistening mantle of double folds; and many contests she patterned therein, of horse-taming Trojans and bronze-coated Achaeans, which they were encountering for her sake at the hands of Ares."

§ 5.18  Homer teaches us, too, that guests who have been invited to a banquet should request permission of their hosts to rise and depart. Telemachus says to Menelaus: "But come, direct us now to our beds, that we may forthwith lie down and delight ourselves in sweet sleep." And Athena, who pretends to be Mentor, says to Nestor: "But come, cut out the tongues, and let the wine be mixed, that we may pour libations to Poseidon and the other immortals and bethink us of rest; for it is the season for it." At the festivals of the gods it is held to be not even pious to remain too long. At any rate Athena in Homer says sententiously: "For by this time the light has sunk beneath the west, and it is not seemly to sit long at the feast of the gods, but rather to go home." And so even today it is customary to depart from some festivals before sunset. Among Egyptians, also, every kind of symposium was conducted with moderation in ancient times, as Apollonia, who has written on this subject, says. For they sat as they dined, making use of the simplest and most healthful food, and drinking only so much wine as would be sufficient to promote good cheer, which Pindar prays Zeus to send: "What shall I do that I may be dear in thy eyes, though of the mighty thunder, son of Cronus — dear to the Muses, too, and marked by the spirit of good cheer — for this I pray thee." [192a] Plato's symposium is not a session or council-chamber, nor a debating-hall of philosophers. For Socrates does not even want to leave the symposium, though Eryximachus and Phaedrus and some others have already gone, but stays awake with Agathon and Aristophanes and drinks out of a silver "well" — for someone has appropriately given this name to the larger cups — and he also drinks out of a shallow cup, in a round from left to right. He says further that after this the other two began to doze, but Aristophanes fell asleep first, while Agathon did not drop off until daylight began to show; and then Socrates put them to bed, and rising up departed to the Lyceum, although, as Herodicus says, he might better have gone to Homer's Laestrygones, "where a sleepless man could have earned double wages."

§ 5.19   Every gathering among the ancients to celebrate a symposium acknowledged the god as the occasion for it, and made use of chaplets appropriate to the gods as well as hymns and songs. And there was no slave to serve them, but young men, sons of free men, were the cup-bearers, as for example the son of Menelaus, who was cup-bearer, even though he was bridegroom, at the very wedding-feast itself. And in the fair Sappho even Hermes is cup-bearer to the gods. In fact, free-born men made ready all other things needful for the diners, and those who had dined separated when it was daylight. In some Persian symposia there also occurred debates, as in Agamemnon's during the campaign. The symposium of Alcinous, to which the speech of Odysseus refers: "I say, for my part, that there is no issue more delightful than when good cheer possesses the whole house, and feasters in the halls learn to the minstrel," admits the welcome to a stranger, since the Phaeacians were of themselves lovers of luxury. If now, one compares it with the symposia of the philosophers, he will find it more decorous, though it includes mirth and joking, but in good taste. For after the gymnastic contest the minstrel sings "of the amours of Ares," a story full of satire, while it gives hints to Odysseus for the slaughter of the suitors, in that even the Lame-footed could overcome in a contest the most valiant Ares.

§ 5.20   The men of those days also sat when they dined. Homer, at any rate, says in many places, "They sat them down in order, upon chairs and thrones." Now the throne, taken by itself alone, is the chair of a man of high birth; it has a footstool, which they called threnys, and they formed the word "throne" from the verb thro, which they use of sitting down, as Philitas: "To sit (thran) beneath the lush plane-tree." The chair (klismos), on the other hand, is provided more sumptuously with an inclined back. Poorer than either of these was the stool (diphros); in the case of Odysseus, anyway, coming in the guise of a beggar, the poet says that Telemachus "placed before him a mean stool and a small table." Their mixing-bowls, as indeed the name implies, stood before them filled with diluted wine; from these the young men who served offered the drinking-cup, while in the case of the most highly honored was always full; while to the others they distributed the wine in equal portions. Agamemnon, at any rate, says to Idomeneus: [193a] "But thy cup stands ever full, even as mine, to quaff whenever thy heart bids thee." They toasted one another not as we do — for our method in a toast is to drain to the dregs — but with the cup full: "And filling the cup with wine he pledged Achilles." How many times a day they took meals has already been explained; we said that there were three (and not four), because the same meal is sometimes called luncheon, sometimes dinner. Those who assert that they took four meals merely because the poet said: "come you now after taking the afternoon meal" are absurd; they do not observe that he means "after waiting through the afternoon." Nevertheless, nobody will ever point to an instance in Homer where anyone takes food three times in the day. Many indeed are mistaken when they place the following verses in sequence in the poet's text: "The grave housekeeper brought food and set it beside them, adding many viands which she lavished from her store. And the carver lifted and set beside them platters of meat." Now if the housekeeper set "viands" before them, it is plain that they must have been chance bits of meat left over, and there would be no need to introduce a carver. Hence the two verses are sufficient alone. When the diners had departed the tables were carried away, as in the case of the suitors and the Phaeacians, of whom the poet says: "And the handmaids cleared away the implements (entea) of the feast," meaning the vessels. For all implements which afford a covering, like breastplates, greaves, and things similar to them, they call entea, being as it were vessels to hold inside them the corresponding parts of the body. The larger rooms in the dwellings of the heroes Homer calls megara, also domata ("buildings") and klisiae ("huts"); but men of today call them "guest-rooms" and "men's halls."

§ 5.21   [193c] What, then, dear friends, shall we call the symposium which was given by Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes ("Illustrious") but because of his acts renamed Epimanes ("Insane")? He was king of Syria, and one of the Seleucidae. Concerning him Polybius says this: "He would sometimes slip out of the palace without the knowledge of his attendants, and would appear wandering about in some quarter of the city with one or two companions; usually he was found near the shops of the silversmiths and goldsmiths talking glibly, and airing his views on art before the workmen engaged in making reliefs as well as before other artisans. Then he would condescend to men of the common people and converse with anybody, no matter whom, and he used to drink with travelers of the meanest sort who came to town. Whenever he learned that any young men were feasting together, he would appear without any announcement to join in the revel with hornpipe and symphony; the result was that most of the party got up and fled at the unexpected apparition. And often he would lay aside his royal robes, and putting on a toga he would walk up and down the market-place as though he were canvassing for votes; with some he shook hands, while others he embraced and invited to cast their vote for him, sometimes for the office of aedile, sometimes for that of tribune of the people. And having won the office, he would seat himself on the ivory chair, according to the Roman custom; he would hear quotes involving contracts in the market, and would give decisions with great earnestness and zeal. As a result he would reduce decent men to perplexity; for some supposed that he was just an artless person, while others thought him mad. And he was like that also in giving presents; [194a] for to some he would give dice made from gazelles' bones, to others dates, to others again money in gold. On occasion, also, meeting persons whom he had never seen, he would give them unexpected presents. In benefactions to cities and in honors paid to the gods he outdid all who had ever been kings before him. One might draw this conclusion merely from the Olympieium at Athens and the statues round the altar in Delos. He used also to bathe in the public baths when the baths were crowded with common people, having jars of the most costly scented oils brought in for his use. On one occasion a man said to him, "Happy are you kings, who can use these perfumes and smell so sweet!" Without answering the fellow he came in next day where the man was bathing, and caused a very large jar of most costly scented oil, the kind which is called stacta, to be poured over the man's head; the result was that all, after standing up, rolled about bathed in the oil, and roused laughter by sprawling on the slippery floor, as even the king himself did."

§ 5.22   This same king, hearing about the games instituted in Macedonia by Aemilius Paulus, the Roman general, and wishing to outdo Paulus in magnificence, dispatched envoys and delegates to the city to proclaim the games which were to be given by him near Daphne; hence great interest arose on the part of the Greeks in meeting him. As a beginning to the meeting he got up a parade which was carried out in the following manner. It was led by certain men in the prime of their youth, five thousand in number, who wore Roman armor of chain-mail; after them came five thousand Mysians; close to these were three thousand Cilicians equipped in the fashion of light-armed troops, and wearing gold crowns. After these came three thousand Thracians and five thousand Celts. These were followed by twenty thousand Macedonians, ten thousand of them with gold shields, five thousand with bronze shields, and the rest with silver shields; close upon these came two hundred and forty pairs of gladiators. Behind them were one thousand Nisaean horsemen and three thousand citizen soldiers, of whom the majority wore gold cheek-coverings and gold crowns, the rest had cheek-coverings of silver. After them came the so-called "mounted companions"; there were about a thousand of these, all with gold cheek-pieces. Next to these was the division made up of his friends, equal in numbers and in beauty of equipment. After them were a thousand picked men, followed by the so-called Agema ("Guard"), which has the reputation of being the best organization of horsemen, numbering about a thousand. Last of all was the armored cavalry, both horses and men being completely covered with armor in accordance with their name. And all these mentioned wore purple cloaks, many also cloaks woven with gold and embroidered with figures. After them were a hundred chariots drawn by six horses, and forty drawn by four horses; next a chariot drawn by four elephants, and another by a pair of elephants; [195a] and in single file followed thirty-six caparisoned elephants.

§ 5.23   It would be difficult to pursue the description of the rest of the procession, and it must be described summarily. Young men who had just come of age, to the number of eight hundred, and wearing gold crowns, marched in the line; fatted oxen, about one thousand; sacrificial tables, little short of three hundred; elephants' tusks, eight hundred. It is not possible to enumerate the quantity of sacred images; for statues of all beings who are said or held to be gods, demigods or even heroes among mankind were borne along, some gilded, others draped in garments of gold thread. And beside all of them lay the sacred myths pertaining to each, according to the traditional accounts, in sumptuous editions. They were followed by representations of Night and Day, Earth and Heaven, and Dawn and Noon. One might guess how great was the number of gold and silver vessels in the following way: of only one of the king's friends, the secretary Dionysius, one thousand slaves marched in the procession carrying silver vessels, none of which weighed less than a thousand drachms. Then came six hundred royal slaves with gold vessels. After them nearly two hundred women sprinkled scented oil from gold pitchers. Close upon these in the procession were eighty women seated in litters having gold supports, and five hundred in litters with silver supports, all richly dressed. These were the most conspicuous features of the parade.

§ 5.24   The games, gladiatorial contests, and hunts took thirty days to conclude; during the first five days in which spectacles were carried out, all persons in the gymnasium anointed themselves with saffron oil from golden basins; these numbered fifteen, and there was an equal number of bowls with oil of cinnamon and nard. Similarly there were brought in, on the succeeding days, oil of fenugreek, marjoram, and orris, all of them rare in their fragrance. For a banquet on one occasion there were spread a thousand triclinia, on another fifteen hundred, with the most extravagant deckings. The management of these matters was undertaken by the king himself. Riding on a poor horse, he ran up and down the procession, commanding one division to advance, another to halt. At the symposia he stood at the entrance introducing some, assigning couches to others, and he himself brought in the servants who carried in the dishes served. And going round he would seat himself in one place, or throw himself down in another. At one moment he would throw aside a morsel or a cup just as he had put them to his lips, and jumping up suddenly, he would change his place or walk round among the drinkers, receiving toasts standing sometimes by one, sometimes by another, at the same time laughing at the entertainments. When the party had been going on a long time and many had already withdrawn, the king was brought in by the mime-performers entirely wrapped up, and deposited on the ground as though he were one of the performers. When the symphony sounded the challenge, he would leap up and dance naked and act with the clowns, so that everyone departed in shame. All these celebrations were paid for partly from funds which he had appropriated in Egypt when he broke his treaty with King Ptolemy Philometor, who was then a lad, and partly from contributions by his friends. He had also plundered most of the temples.

§ 5.25   The guests expressed their wonder at the state of the king's mind, judging that he was not illustrious, [196a] but really insane, . . . Masurius then added an account of the procession which was arranged in Alexandria by the most excellent king Ptolemy Philadelphus; this is recorded by Callixeinus of Rhodes in the fourth book of his work on Alexandria. He says: "Before I begin I will describe the pavilion which was set up inside the enclosure of the citadel, at a distance from the place where the soldiers, artisans, and tourists were entertained. For it proved to be extraordinarily beautiful and well worth hearing about. As for its size, it could hold one hundred and thirty couches in a circle, and its decoration was as follows. Wooden columns were set up at regular intervals, five on each long side, rising fifty cubits in height, but four on each of the other sides; upon these was fitted a square epistyle which held up the entire roof sheltering the symposium. This roof was draped with a circular canopy in scarlet edged with white, covering the middle of it; while on either side it had beams concealed by tapestries with white stripes draped voluminously about them; between the beams were painted panels set in order. Of the columns four were shaped like palm-trees, but those which stood in the middle had the appearance of Bacchic wands. Outside the columns, on three sides, was a portico with a peristyle, having a vaulted roof, and here the retires of the guests could stand. Inside, the pavilion was surrounded with Phoenician curtains, except that the spaces between columns were hung with the pelts of animals, extraordinary in variety and in size. The outer side of the enclosing curtains, exposed to the air, was roofed with branches of myrtle and laurel and other boughs that were suitable. The floor was entirely strewn with all sorts of flowers. For Egypt, both because of the temperate quality of its atmosphere, and also because its gardeners can grow plants which are either rare or found only at a regular season in other regions, produces flowers in abundance and throughout the whole year, and it is not easy, as a rule, for the rose or the wall-flower of any other flower to fail entirely. Therefore, since the entertainment which was given at that time took place in the middle of winter, the scene which presented itself to the eyes of the guests passed belief. For flowers which, in any other city, could have been found only with difficulty to make up a single wreath, were lavished without stint in a wealth of wreaths upon the multitude of reclining guests, and, moreover, lay scattered profusely on the floor of the pavilion, truly presenting the picture of an extraordinary beautiful meadow.

§ 5.26   At the columns which supported the pavilion were placed marble figures, a hundred in all, the work of the foremost artists. In the intercolumniations were paintings by artists of the Sikyonian school, alternating with a great variety of selected portraits; also there were tunics of cloth of gold and most beautiful military cloaks, some having portraits of the kings woven in them, others depicting subjects taken from mythology. Above these oblong shields were hung all round, alternately of silver and of gold. And in the spaces above these again, each measuring eight cubits, recesses were constructed, six on each of the longer sides of the pavilion, and four on the narrower sides; and in these recesses were representations of drinking-parties arranged to face one another, composed of figures taken from tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama, [197a] wearing real clothing, and beside them lay cups of gold. In the spaces between the recesses were left niches, in which were set up Delphic tripods of gold, with supports beneath. Along the topmost space in the ceiling gold eagles faced each other, fifteen cubits in length. On the two sides were set a hundred gold couches with feet shaped like Sphinxes; for the apse facing the entrance was left open. On the couches were spread purple rugs made of wool of the first quality, with pile on both sides; and over them were counterpanes embroidered with exquisite art. Smooth Persian carpets covered the space in the middle trodden by the feet, having beautiful designs of figures woven in them with minute skill. Beside the guests, as they reclined, were set three-legged tables of gold, two hundred in number, making two to each couch; they were setting silver rests. Behind them, ready for the hand-washing, were a hundred silver basins and the same number of pitchers. In full sight of the company was built another couch also for the display of the goblets and cups and all the rest of the utensils appropriate to use on the occasion; all of these were of gold and studded with gems, wonderful in their work. Now it clearly appeared to me that it would be tedious to explain the materials and styles of all these vessels; but the weight of them all, taken together in a single mass, was about ten thousand silver talents.

§ 5.27   Since we have described the pavilion and its contents, we will now give an account of the procession. It was held in the city stadium. At the head marched the 'division of the Morning Star' because the procession began at the time that star appears. Then came that part of the procession which was named from the parents of the king and queen. After these came the divisions made from all the gods, having decorative symbols appropriate to the strict of each divinity. The last division, as it happened, was that of the Evening Star, since the season of the year brought the time consumed by the procession down to that point. If anyone wishes to learn the details, let him take and study the records of the quadrennial games. In the Dionysiac procession, there marched at the head Sileni who kept back the crowds; they were dressed in purple riding-cloaks, some in red. These were closely followed by Satyrs, twenty at each end of the stadium, carrying torches ornamented with gilt ivy-leaves. After these came Victories with gold wings. These carried censers nine feet high, ornamented with gilt ivy-sprays; the women had on embroidered tunics, and their persons were covered with much gold jewelry. After them followed a double altar nine feet long, ornamented in high relief with gilt ivy-foliage, and having a gold crown of grape-leaves twined with striped white ribbons. Following this came one hundred and twenty boys in purple tunics, carrying frankincense and myrrh, and, moreover, saffron upon gold trenchers. After them marched forty Satyrs crowned with gold crowns in ivy pattern; their bodies were smeared in some cases with purple, in others with vermilion and other colors. [198a] These also wore a gold crown wrought in grape and ivy patterns. After them came two Sileni in purple riding-cloaks and white shoes. One of them wore a broad-brimmed hat and held a herald's staff of gold, the other carried a trumpet. Between these walked a man over six feet tall, in tragic costume and mask, carrying a horn of plenty; he was called 'The Year.' He was followed by a very beautiful woman as tall as he, dressed in a striking tunic and adorned with much gold, and carrying in one hand a crown of Persea, in the other a palm-branch; she was called 'Lustrum.' She was closely followed by the four Seasons gaily dressed and each carrying the fruits appropriate to her. Next these were two censers, nine feet tall, ornamented with ivy pattern in gold; also a square altar between them, of gold. Again came Satyrs wearing gold ivy-crowns and clad in red tunics; some carried a gold wine-pitcher, others a gold goblet. After them marched the poet Philiscus, who was a priest of Dionysus, and all the guild of the artists of Dionysus. Next were borne Delphic tripods, being prizes for the managers of the athletes; the one intended for the manager of the boys' class was thirteen and a half feet high, the other, for the manager of the adults' class, was eighteen feet.

§ 5.28   After these came a four-wheeled cart, twenty-one feet long and twelve feet wide, drawn by one hundred and eighty men; in this stood a statue of Dionysus, fifteen feet tall, pouring a libation from a gold goblet, and wearing a purple tunic extending to the feet, over which was a transparent saffron coat; but round his shoulders was thrown a purple mantle spangled with gold. In front of him lay a gold Laconian mixing-bowl holding one hundred and fifty gallons; also a gold tripod, on which lay a gold censer and two saucers full of cassia and saffron. Over him stretched a canopy decorated with ivy, grape-vine, and the other cultivated fruits, and hanging to it also were wreaths, ribbons, Bacchic wands, tambourines, fillets, and satyric, comic, and tragic masks. The cart (was followed) by priests and priestesses and those who had charge of the sacred vestments, sacred guilds of every description, and women carrying the winnowing-fans. Next came Macedonian bacchants, the so-called 'Mimallones,' and 'Bassarae' and 'Lydian women,' with hair streaming down and crowned with wreaths, some of snakes, others of smilax and vine-leaves and ivy; in their class some held daggers, others snakes. After these women came a four-wheeled cart twelve feet wide and drawn by sixty men, in which was seated an image of Nysa, twelve feet high; she had on a yellow tunic with gold spangles, and was wrapped in a Laconian shawl. Moreover, this image could rise up automatically without anyone putting his hands to it, and after pouring a libation of milk from a gold saucer it would sit down again. It held in the left hand a Bacchic wand bound with fillets. Moreover, Nysa wore a crown of gold ivy-leaf and very rich grape-clusters of jewels. She also had a canopy, and at the corners of the cart were fastened four torches with gold bands [199a] Next there followed another four-wheeler, thirty feet long, twenty-four feet wide, drawn by three hundred men; in this was set up a wine-press thirty-six feet long, twenty-two and a half feet wide, full of grapes. And sixty Satyrs trod them while they sang a vintage song to the accompaniment of pipes, and a Silenus superintended them. The new wine streamed through the whole line of march. Next came a four-wheeled cart thirty-seven and a half feet long, twenty-one feet wide, and drawn by six hundred men; in it was a wine skin holding thirty thousand gallons, stitched together from leopard pelts; this also trickled over the whole line of march as the wine was slowly let out. Following the skin came a hundred and twenty crowned Satyrs and Sileni, some carrying wine-pitchers, others shallow cups, still others large deep cups — everything of gold.

§ 5.29   Immediately next to them passed a silver mixing-bowl holding six thousand gallons, in a cart drawn by six hundred men. It bore, beneath the brim and handles and under the base, figures of beaten metal, and round the middle ran a gold band, like a wreath, studded with jewels. Next were carried two silver stands for drinking-cups, eighteen feet long and nine feet in height; these had end-ornaments on top, and on the swelling sides all round as well as on the legs were carved figures, many in number, two and three feet high. And there were ten large basins and sixteen mixing-bowls, the larger of which held three hundred gallons, while the smallest held fifty. Then there were twenty-four cauldrons ornamented with an acorn boss, on which were twenty-four jars, a table of solid silver eighteen feet long, and thirty more tables nine feet long. Added to these were four tripods, one of which had a circumference of twenty-four feet, plated throughout with silver, while the other three, which were smaller, were studded with jewels in the center. After these were borne along Delphic tripods of silver, eighty in number, but smaller than those just mentioned; at their corners (were figures in beaten metal), and the tripods had a capacity of forty gallons. There were twenty-six water-jars, sixteen Panathenaic amphoras, one hundred and sixty wine-coolers; of these the largest contained sixty gallons, the smallest twenty. All these vessels were of silver.

§ 5.30   "Next to these in the procession came those who carried the gold utensils, four Laconian mixing-bowls with bands of vine-leaves . . . others with a capacity of forty gallons; and two of Corinthian workmanship, on stands; these had on the brim seated figures in beaten metal, very striking; and on the neck and round the bowl were figures in relief, carefully fashioned; the capacity of each was eighty gallons. There was also a press containing ten wine-jars, two basins, each holding fifty gallons, two drinking-cups holding twenty gallons, twenty-two wine-coolers; of these the largest held three hundred gallons, the smallest ten. Four large gold tripods were carried in the procession; and there was a gold chest for gold vessels, studded with jewels and having a height of fifteen feet, with six shelves, on which stood a great number of figures carefully fashioned, four spans high; there were also two stands for cups, and two glass vessels studded with jewels; two gold stands six feet high, [200a] beside three smaller ones, ten water-jars, an altar four and a half feet high, and twenty-five bread-plates. After all this there marched one thousand six hundred boys who had on white tunics and wore crowns, some of ivy, others of pine; two hundred and fifty of them carried gold pitchers, four hundred, silver pitchers; while another band of three hundred and twenty bore gold or silver wine-coolers. After them other boys carried jars intended to be used for sweetmeats; twenty of these were of gold, fifty of silver, and three hundred were adorned with encaustic paintings in all sorts of colors. And since the mixtures had already been made in the water-jars and casks, all persons in the stadium were duly showered with sweetness."

§ 5.31   Next to these in his catalogue were six-foot tables on which were borne remarkable scenes lavishly represented. Among these was included the bridal chamber of Semele in which certain characters wear tunics of gold bejewelled with the costliest gems And it would not be right to omit the following mention of the four-wheeled cart, in length thirty-three feet, in width twenty-one, drawn by five hundred men; in it was a deep cavern profusely shaded with ivy and yew. From this pigeons, ring-doves, and turtle-doves flew forth along the whole route, with nooses tied to their feet so that they could be easily caught by the spectators. And from it also gushed forth two fountains, one of milk, the other of wine. And all the nymphs standing round him wore crowns of gold, and Hermes had a staff of gold, and all in rich garments. In another cart, which contained 'the return of Dionysus from India,' there was a Dionysus measuring eighteen feet who reclined upon an elephant's back, clad in a purple coat and wearing a gold crown, of ivy and vine pattern; he held in his hands a gold wand-lance, and his feet were shod with shoes fastened by gold straps. Seated in front of him on the elephants neck was a Satyr measuring seven and a half feet, crowned with a gold pine-wreath, his right hand holding a goat-horn of gold, as though he were signaling with it. The elephant had trappings of gold and round its neck an ivy-crown in gold. This cart was followed by five hundred young girls dressed in purple tunics with gold girdles. Those who were in the lead, numbering one hundred and twenty, wore gold pine-crowns; following them came one hundred and twenty Satyrs, some in gold, some in silver, and some in bronze panoply. After them marched five troops of asses on which were mounted Sileni and Satyrs wearing crowns. Some of the asses had frontlets and harness of gold, others, of silver.

§ 5.32   After them were sent forth twenty-four elephant chariots, sixty teams of he-goats, twelve of saiga antelopes, a seven of beisa antelopes, fifteen of leucoryse, eight teams of ostriches, seven of Pere-David deer, four of wild asses, and four four-horse chariots. on all of these were mounted little boys wearing the tunics and wide-brimmed hats of charioteers, and beside them stood little girls equipped with small crescent shields and wand-lances, dressed in robes and decked with gold coins. The lads driving the chariots wore pine crowns, the girls wore ivy. Next after them came six teams of camels, three on either side. these were immediately followed by carts drawn by mules. [201a] These contained barbaric tents, under which sat Indian and other women dressed as captives. Then came camels, some of which carried three hundred pounds of frankincense, three hundred of myrrh, and two hundred of saffron, cassia, cinnamon, orris, and all other spices. Next to these were negro tribute-bearers, some of whom brought six hundred tusks, others two thousand ebony logs, others sixty mixing-bowls full of gold and silver coins and gold dust. After these, in the procession, marched two hunters carrying gilded hunting-spears. Dogs were also led along, numbering two thousand four hundred, some Indian, the others Hyrcanian or Molossian or of other breeds. Next came one hundred and fifty men carrying trees on which were suspended all sorts of animals and birds. Then were brought, in cages, parrots, peacocks, guinea-fowls, and birds from the Phasis and others from Aethiopia, in great quantities." After he has spoken of very many other things, and enumerated many droves of animals he adds: "One hundred and thirty Aethiopian sheep, three hundred Arabian, twenty Euboean; also twenty-six Indian zebus entirely white, eight Aethiopian, one large white she-bear, fourteen leopards, sixteen genets, four caracals, three bear-cubs, one giraffe, one Aethiopian rhinoceros.

§ 5.33   Next in a four-wheeled cart was Dionysus at the altar of Rhea, having found refuge there while being pursued by Hera; he had on a gold crown, and Priapus stood at his side, with a gold ivy-crown. The statue of Hera had a gold diadem. Then there were statues of Alexander and Ptolemy, crowned with ivy-crowns made of gold. The statue of Arete which stood beside Ptolemy had a gold olive-crown. Priapus stood beside them also wearing an ivy-crown made of gold. The city of Corinth, standing beside Ptolemy, was crowned with a gold band. Beside all these figures were placed a stand for cups, full of gold vessels, and a gold mixing-bowl of fifty gallons capacity. Following this cart were women who wore very rich robes and ornaments; they bore the names of cities, some from Ionia, while all the rest were the Greek cities which occupied Asia and the islands and had been under the rule of the Persians; they all wore gold crowns. In other carts, also, were carried a Bacchic wand of gold, one hundred and thirty-five feet long, and a silver spear ninety feet long; in another was a gold phallus one hundred and eighty feet long, painted in various colours and bound with fillets of gold; it had at the extremity a gold star, the perimeter of which was nine feet." Many and varied though the things are which have been mentioned as belonging to these processions, yet I have selected for mention only those things which contained gold and silver. For there were numerous articles worth mentioning, and quantities of wild beasts and horses, and twenty-four huge lions. "There were other carts besides, which carried images of kings and of gods as well, many of them. After them marched a choral band of six hundred men; among them three hundred harp-players performed together, carrying harps gilded all over, and wearing gold crowns. [202a] After them two thousand steers, all of the same colour and with gilded horns, came by, having gold stars on their foreheads, wreaths between the horns, and necklaces and aegises on their breasts; all these were of gold.

§ 5.34   And after this came marching in the carnival a division in honour of Zeus and one of the other gods in great number, and following all one devoted to Alexander, whose effigy in gold was borne, Victory and Athena on either side, in a chariot drawn by live elephants. In the procession also were many thrones constructed of ivory and gold; on one of these lay a gold diadem, on another a gilded horn, on still another a gold crown, and on another a horn of solid gold. upon the throne of Ptolemy Soter lay a crown made of ten thousand gold coins. In the procession also were three hundred and fifty gold censers, and gilded altars wreathed with gold crowns; on one of these, four gold torches fifteen feet long were affixed. And two gilded braziers were also carried in the procession, of which one was eighteen feet in circumference and sixty in height, the other measured twenty-two and a half feet. There were also nine Delphic tripods of gold of six feet high, eight more of nine feet, another of forty-five feet; on this were figures in gold seven and a half feet high, and a vine-wreath of gold encircled it. There went by also seven gilded palm-trees twelve feet high and a gilded herald's staff sixty-seven and a half feet long, a gilded thunderbolt sixty feet long, also a gilded temple measuring sixty feet all round; there was a double horn in addition, twelve feet high. A very large number of gilded figures were in the procession, the most of which were eighteen feet high; and there were figures of wild beasts of extraordinary size and eagles thirty feet high. Three thousand two hundred gold crowns were shown in the procession, and there was another mystic crown of gold one hundred and twenty feet in circumference, adorned with precious stones; this was hung round the portal of Berenice's shrine; there was similarly a gold aegis. And there were also very many gold diadems in the procession, carried by girls richly dressed; one diadem was three feet high, and it had a perimeter of twenty-four feet. There was paraded also a gold breastplate eighteen feet in length, and another of silver, twenty-seven feet, with two gold thunderbolts on it fifteen feet long, and an oak crown of gold studded with jewels. Twenty gold shields, sixty-four suits of armour in gold, two pairs of gold greaves four and a half feet long, twelve gold hods, saucer-shaped cups in very great number, thirty wine-pitchers, ten large ointment-holders, twelve water-jars, fifty bread-platters, various tables, five stands of gold vessels, a horn of solid gold forty-five feet long. And these articles of gold were exclusive of those carried by in the division of Dionysus. Further, there were four hundred cartloads of silver vessels, twenty of gold vessels, and eight hundred of spices.

§ 5.35   After all these marched the cavalry and infantry forces, all wonderfully armed cap-a-pie. The infantry numbered [203a] about 57,600, the cavalry 23,200. All of these marched dressed in the garments proper to each, and in their appropriate panoply. But beside the panoplies worn by all these troops, there were very many others stored in chests, of which it is not easy to set down even the number." Yet Callixeinus gave the list. "And in the games twenty persons were crowned with gold crowns; Ptolemy was first, then Berenice, who were honoured with three portrait-statues in gold chariots, and with precincts at Dodona. The total expense, in currency, amounted to two thousand, two hundred and thirty-nine talents and fifty minas; and all this sum was paid in to the managing officials before the exhibition was over, through the enthusiastic zeal of those who gave the crowns. And their son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, was awarded two gold portrait-statues, in gold chariots, mounted on columns, one of nine feet, five of seven and a half feet, and six of six feet." 36 What monarchy, fellow-banqueters, has ever been so rich in gold? Surely not any that appropriated the wealth of Persia or Babylon, or that had mines to work, or that owned the Pactolus river, washing down gold-dust. No; for it is only the Nile, the river truly called "gold-flowing," that with its boundless crops of food actually washes down unadulterated gold which is harvested with no risk, so that it can supply all men sufficiently; being, like Triptolemus, sent forth into every land. For this reason the Byzantian poet by the name of Parmenon says "Thou Nile, Egypt's Zeus!" Philadelphus surpassed many kings in wealth, and devoted himself with enthusiastic zeal to all his establishments, so that he surpassed all others in the number of his ships as well. At any rate, the largest ships owned by him were: two with thirty banks of oars, one with twenty, four with thirteen, two with twelve, fourteen with eleven, thirty with nine, thirty-seven with seven, five with six, and seventeen with five. But the number of ships with rowers ranging from four banks to one and a half was double the others. The ships dispatched to the islands and the other states over which he ruled, as well as to Libya, numbered more than four thousand. And concerning the number of books, the establishing of libraries, and the collection in the Hall of the Muses, why need I even speak, since they are in all men's memories? [203e] 37 But since we are on the subject of naval equipment, come, let us speak also of the ships constructed by King Ptolemy Philopator, for they are worth hearing about. The same Callixeinus gives an account of these in the first book of his work On Alexandria, in these words: "Philopator constructed his forty-bank ship with a length of four hundred and twenty feet; its beam from gangway to gangway was fifty-seven feet; its height to the gunwale was seventy-two feet. From the top of the stern-post to the water-line it measured seventy-nine and a half feet. It had four steering-oars, forty-five feet long, [204a] and the oars of the topmost rowers, which are the longest, measured fifty-seven feet; these, since they carried lead on the handles and were very heavy inboard, were yet easy to handle in actual use because of their nice balance. It had a double bow and a double stern, and carried seven rams; one of these was the leader, others were of gradually diminishing size, some being mounted at the catheads. It carried twelve under-girders, each of them measuring nine hundred feet. It was extraordinarily well proportioned. Wonderful also was the adornment of the vessel besides; for it had figures at stern and bow not less than eighteen feet high, and every available space was elaborately covered with encaustic painting; the entire surface where the oars projected, down to the keel, had a pattern of ivy-leaves and Bacchic wands. Rich also was the equipment in armament, and its satisfied all the requirements of the various parts of the ship. On a trial voyage it took more than four thousand men to man the oars, and four hundred reserves; to man the deck there were two thousand eight hundred and fifty marines; and besides, below decks was another complement of men and provisions in no small quantity. At the beginning it was launched from a kind of cradle which, they say, was put together from the timbers of fifty five-bank ships, and it was pulled into the water by a crowd, to the accompaniment of shouts and trumpets. Later, however, a Phoenician conceived the method of launching by digging a trench under the ship near the harbour, equal in length to the ship. He constructed for this trench foundations of solid stone seven and a half feet in depth, and from one end of these foundations to the other he fixed in a row skids, which ran transversely to the stones across the width of the trench, leaving a space below them six feet deep. And having dug a sluice from the sea, he let the sea into all the excavated space, filling it full; into this space he easily brought the vessel, with the help of unskilled men; . . . . when they had barred the entrance which had been opened at the beginning, they again pumped out the sea-water with engines. And when this had been done, the ship rested securely on the skids before-mentioned.

§ 5.38   "Philopator also constructed a river boat, the so-called cabin-carrier,' having a length of three hundred feet, and a beam at the broadest part of forty-five feet. The height, including the pavilion when it was raised, was little short of sixty feet. Its shape was neither like that of the war galleys nor like that of the round-bottomed merchantmen, but had been altered somewhat in draught to suit its use on the river. For below the water-line it was flat and broad, but in its bulk it rose high in the air; and the top parts of its sides, especially near the bow, extended in a considerable overhang, with a backward curve very graceful in appearance. It had a double bow and a double stern which projected upward to a high point, because the waves in the river often rise very high. The hold amidships was constructed with saloons for dining-parties, with berths, and with all the other conveniences of living. Round the ship, on three sides, ran double promenades. The perimeter of one of these measured not less than five furlongs. [205a] The structure of the one below decks resembled a peristyle; that of the one on the upper deck was like a concealed peristyle built up all round with walls and windows. As one first came on board at the stern, there was set a vestibule open in front, but having a row of columns on the sides; in the part which faced the bow was built a fore-gate, constructed of ivory and the most expensive wood. entering this, one came upon a kind of proscenium which in its construction had been roofed over. Matching the fore-gate, again, a second vestibule lay aft at the transverse side, and a portal with four doors led into it. On both sides, left and right, potholes were set beneath to provide good ventilation. Connected with these entrances was the largest cabin; it had a single row of columns all round, and could hold twenty couches. The most of it was made of split cedar and Milesian cypress; the surrounding doors, numbering twenty, had panels of fragrant cedar nicely glued together, with ornamentation in ivory. The decorative studs covering their surface, and the handles as well, were made of red copper, which had been gilded in the fire. As for the columns, their shafts were of cypress-wood, while the capitals, of the Corinthian order, were entirely covered with ivory and gold. The whole entablature was in gold; over it was affixed a frieze with striking figures in ivory, more than a foot and a half tall, mediocre in workmanship, to be sure, but remarkable in their lavish display. Over the dining-saloon was a beautiful coffered ceiling of Cyprus wood; the ornamentations on it were sculptured, with a surface of gilt. Next to this dining-saloon was a sleeping apartment with seven berths, [205d] adjoining which was a narrow passage-way running transversely from one side of the hold to the other, and dividing off the women's quarters. In the latter was a dining-saloon, with nine couches, which was similar to the large saloon in magnificence, and a sleeping-apartment with five berths. "Now the arrangements up to the first deck were as described.

§ 5.39   Ascending the companion-way, which adjoined the sleeping-apartment last mentioned, was another cabin large enough for five couches, having a ceiling with lozenge-shaped panels; near it was a rotunda-shaped shrine of Aphrodite, in which was a marble statue of the goddess. Opposite to this was a sumptuous dining-saloon surrounded by a row of columns, which were built of marble from India. Beside this dining-saloon were sleeping-rooms having arrangements which corresponded to those mentioned before. As one proceeded toward the bow he came upon a chamber devoted to Dionysus, large enough for thirteen couches, and surrounded by a row of columns; it had a cornice which was gilded as far as the architrave surrounding the room; the ceiling was appropriate to the spirit of the god. In this chamber, on the starboard side, a recess was built; externally, it showed a stone fabric artistically made of real jewels and gold; enshrined in it were portrait-statues of the royal family in Parian marble. Very delightful, too, was another dining-saloon built on the roof of the largest cabin [206a] in the manner of an awning; this had no roof, but curtain rods shaped like bows extended over it for a certain distance, and on these, when the ship was under way, purple curtains were spread out. Next after this was an open deck which occupied the space directly over the vestibule extending below it; a circular companion-way extending from this deck led to the covered promenade and the dining-saloon with nine couches. This was Egyptian in the style of its construction; for the columns built at this point bulged as they ascended, and the drums differed, one being black and another white, placed alternately. Some of their capitals are circular in shape; the entire figure described by them resembles rose-blossoms slightly opened. But around the part which is called the 'basket' there are no volutes or rough leaves laid on, as on Greek capitals, but calyxes of water-lilies and the fruit of freshly-budded date-palms; in some instances several other kinds of flowers are sculptured thereon. The part below the root of the cap, which, of course, rests upon the drum adjoining it, had a motif that was similar; it was composed of flowers and leaves of Egyptian beans, as it were, intertwined. This is the way in which Egyptians construct their columns; and the walls, too, they vary with alternating white and black courses of stone, but sometimes, also, they build them of the rock called alabaster. And there were many other rooms in the hollow of the ship's hold through its entire extent. Its mast had a height of one hundred and five feet, with a sail of fine linen reinforced by a purple topsail." All the wealth of King Ptolemy Philadelphus, after being retained for so long a period, was dissipated by the last Ptolemy, the same who got up the Gabinian war; he was not a man, but a flute-player and juggler.

§ 5.40   With regard to the construction of the ship built by Hieron of Syracuse, which was superintended by the mathematician Archimedes, I hold it not right to be silent, since a certain Moschion has published a treatise on it which I have recently read with care. Moschion, then, writes as follows: "Diocleides of Abdera is admired for his description of the siege-engine which was brought to bear against the walls of the city of Rhodes by Demetrius; Timaeus, for his description of the funeral pyre built for Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily; Hieronymus, for his account of the carriage built to convey the body of Alexander; Polycleitus, for the description of the chandelier made for the Persian king. But Hieron, the king of Syracuse, he who was in all respects friendly to Rome, not only interested himself in the building of temples and gymnasia, but was also a zealous shipbuilder, constructing wheat-transports, the construction of one of which I will proceed to describe. For material he caused timber to be brought from Aetna, enough in quantity for the building of sixty quadriremes. In keeping with this, he caused to be prepared dowels, belly-timbers, stanchions, and all the material for general uses, partly from Italy, partly from Sicily; for cables hemp from Iberia, hemp and pitch from the river Rhone, and all other the gates needful from many places. He also got together shipwrights and all other kinds of artisans, and from them all he placed in charge the Corinthian Archias as architect, [207a] urging him to attack the construction zealously; and he personally applied himself diligently to the work during the days it required. One half, then, of the entire ship he finished in six months . . . and as each part of the ship was completed it was overlaid with tiling made of lead; for there were about three hundred artisans working on the materials, not including their assistants. This part of the ship, then, was ordered to be launched in the sea, that it might receive the finishing touches there. But after considerable discussion in regard to the method of pulling it into the water, Archimedes the mechanician alone was able to launch it with the help of a few persons. For by the construction of a windlass he was able to launch a ship of so great proportions in the water. Archimedes was the first to invent the construction of the windlass. The remaining parts of the ship were completed in another period of six months; it was entirely secured with bronze rivets, most of which weighed ten pounds, while the rest were half as large again; these wit were fitted in place by means of augers, and held the stanchions together; fixed to the timbers was a sheath of leaden tiles, under which were strips of linen canvas covered with pitch. When, then, he had completed the outside surface, he proceeded to make complete the inner arrangements.

§ 5.41   "Now the ship was constructed to hold twenty banks of rowers, with three gangways. the lowest gangway which it contained led to cargo, the descent to which was afforded by companion-ways of solid construction; the second was designed for the use of those who wished to enter the cabins; after this came the third and last, which was for men posted under arms. Belonging to the middle gangway were cabins for men ranged on each side of the ship, large enough for four couches, and numbering thirty. The officers' cabin could hold fifteen couches and contained three apartments of the size of three couches; that toward the stern was the cooks' galley. All these rooms had a tessellated flooring made of a variety of stones, in the pattern of which was wonderfully wrought the entire story of the Iliad; also in the furniture, the ceiling, and the doors all these themes were artfully represented. On the level of the uppermost gangway there were a gymnasium and promenades built on a scale proportionate to the size of the ship; in these were garden-beds of every sort, luxuriant with plants of marvellous growth, and watered by lead tiles hidden from sight; then there were bowers of white ivy and grape-vines, the roots of which got their nourishment in casks filled with earth, and receiving the same irrigation as the garden-beds. These bowers shaded the promenades. Built next to these was a shrine of Aphrodite large enough to contain three couches, with a floor made of agate and other stones, the most beautiful kinds found in the island; it had walls and ceiling of Cyprus-wood, and doors of ivory and fragrant cedar; it was also most lavishly furnished with paintings and statues and drinking-vessels of every shape.

§ 5.42   "Adjoining this was a study large enough for five couches, the walls and doors of which were made of boxwood; it contained a library, and on the ceiling was a concave dial made in imitation of the sun-dial on Achradina. There was also a bathroom, of three-couch size, with three bronze tubs and a wash-stand of variegated Tauromenian marble, having a capacity of fifty gallons. There were also several rooms built for the marines and those who manned the pumps. But beside these there were ten stalls for horses on each side of the ship; and next them was the storage-place for the horses' food, and the belongings of the riders and their slaves. [208a] There was also a water-tank at the bow, which was kept covered and had a capacity of twenty thousand gallons; it was constructed of planks, caulked with pitch and covered with tarpaulins. By its side was built a fish-tank enclosed with lead and planks; this was filled with sea-water, and many fish were kept in it. On both sides of the ship were projecting beams, at proper intervals apart; on these were constructed receptacles for wood, ovens, kitchens, handmills, and several other utensils. Outside, a row of colossi, nine feet high, ran round the ship; these supported the upper weight and the triglyph, all standing at proper intervals apart. And the whole ship was adorned with appropriate paintings.

§ 5.43   There were also eight turrets on it, of a size proportional to the weight of the ship; two at the stern, an equal number at the bow, and the rest amidships. To each of these two cranes were made fast, and over them portholes were built, through which stones could be hurled at an enemy sailing underneath. Upon each of the turrets were mounted four sturdy men in full armour, and two archers. The whole interior of the turrets was full of Saracen and missiles. A wall with battlements and decks athwart the ship was built on supports; on this stood a stone-hurler, which could shoot by its own power a stone weighing one hundred and eighty pounds or a javelin eighteen feet long. This engine was constructed by Archimedes. Either one of these missiles could be hurled six hundred feet. After this came leather curtains joined together, suspended to thick beams by means of bronze chains. The ship carried three masts, from each of which two stone-hurling cranes were suspended; from them grappling hooks and lumps of lead could also be directed against assailants. An iron paling which encircled the ship also protected it against any who attempted to climb aboard; also grappling-cranes of iron were all about the ship, which, operated by machinery, could lay hold of the enemy's hulls and bring them alongside where they would be exposed to blows. Sixty sturdy men in full armour mounted guard on each side of the ship, and a number equal to these manned the masts and stone-hurlers. Also at the masts, on the mast-heads (which were of bronze), men were posted, three on the foremast, two in the maintop and one on the mizzenmast; these were kept supplied by the slaves with stones and missiles carried aloft in wicker baskets to the crow's-nests by means of pulleys. There were four anchors of wood, eight of iron. The trees for the mainmast and mizzenmast were easily found; but that for the foremast was discovered with difficulty by a swineherd in the mountains of the Bruttii; it was hauled down to the coast by the engineer Phileas of Tauromenium. The bilge-water, even when it became very deep, could easily be pumped out by one man with the aid of the screw, an invention of Archimedes. The ship was named 'Syracusia'; but when Hieron sent her forth, he changed the name to 'Alexandris.' The boats which it had in tow were first a pinnace of three thousand talents burden; this was propelled entirely by oars. After this came fishing-boats of fifteen hundred talents burden, and several cutters besides. The numbers composing the crew were not less than . . . Next to these just mentioned there were six hundred more men at the bow ready to carry out orders. [209a] For any crimes committed on board there was a court composed of the skipper, pilot, and officer at the bow, who gave judgement in accordance with the laws of Syracuse.

§ 5.44   "On board were loaded ninety thousand bushels of grain, ten thousand jars Sicilian salt-fish, six hundred tons of wool, and other front amounting to six hundred tons. Quite apart from this was the provisioning of the crew. But when Hieron began to get reports of all the harbours, either that they could not receive his ship at all, or that great danger to the ship was involved, he determined to send it as a present to King Ptolemy at Alexandria; for there was in fact a scarcity of grain throughout Egypt. And so he did; and the ship was brought to Alexandria, where it was pulled up on shore. Hieron also honoured Archimelus, the poet who had written an epigram celebrating the vessel, with fifteen hundred bushels of wheat, which he shipped at his own expense to Peiraeus. The epigram runs as follows: 'Who hath set these giant timbers on the ground? What mighty master hath hauled them with untiring cables? How was the flooring fixed to the ribs of oak, or by what axe hewn did rivets make this hollow mass, matching in height the peaks of Aetna, or stretching with walls on both sides broad as one of the isles which Aegean waters bind together in the Cyclades / Verily the giants have planed these timbers to traverse the paths of Heaven. For its mastheads touch the stars, and it hides its three-ply bulwarks within the mighty clouds. Its anchors are secured with such cables as those with which Xerxes bound together the twin passage of Abydos and Sestos. Letters freshly charactered on its stout prow reveal who it was that sent forth this keel from the dry land; for they declare that it was Hieron, son of Hierocles, bearing gifts of a rich harvest to all Hellas and the isles, wielder of the sceptre of Sicily, the Dorian. Nay then, Poseidon, guide this bark homeward over the blue surging sea.'" I have intentionally omitted the sacred trireme of Antigonus, in which he defeated Ptolemy's generals off Leucolla, in Cos, where, in fact, he dedicated it to Apollo; for this trireme could not contain a third or perhaps not even a fourth of the "Syracusia" or "Alexandris," the ship of Hieron's just described. [209e]

§ 5.45   So much, then, have we enumerated concerning the "Catalogue of Ships," beginning not with the Boeotians, but with great festival processions. And since I am sure that our noble Ulpian will again propound us a question as to what is that "vessel-stand" mentioned by Callixeinus, I answer him that there is even a speech ascribed to the orator Lysias, entitled On the Vessel-stand, beginning: "If, gentlemen of the court, Lysimenes were maintaining any just or reasonable claim." Proceeding further in the speech he says: "I should not be so concerned to argue about the vessel-stand itself, for that is not worth thirty shillings." [210a] That the stand was of bronze he declares further: "Last year I wished to have it repaired, and I sent it out to the bronze-foundry; for it is made up of different parts, and it has the faces of Satyrs, and the heads of bulls worked on it. . . . There is another one of the same size. For the same maker manufactures many articles of furniture in the same or similar style." In this passage Lysias mentions that the vessel-stand was of bronze, and so clearly shows, as Callixeinus also has said, that they are supports for cauldrons. In the same way, in fact, Polemon the Geographer also has spoken of it; in the third book of his work, Address to Adaeus and Antigonus, he describes the subject of a picture painted on the wall of the Polemarch's portico at Phlious; it was by Sillax of Rhegium, who is mentioned by Epicharmus and Simonides. Polemon says: "a vessel-stand, and upon it a cup." And Hegesander of Delphi, in the commentary entitled Statues of Men and of Gods says that the stand in Delphi made by Glaucus of Chios is a kind of vessel-stand of iron dedicated by Alyattes; it is mentioned by Herodotus, who calls it a "bowl-stand." This, then, is what Hegesander says of it. But I too have seen it where it stands as an offering in Delphi, truly worth seeing on account of the figures of insects worked in relief upon it, as well as other tiny creatures and plants; it is capable of holding upon it mixing-bowls and other vessels besides. But that which Alexandrians call "vessel-holder" is triangular, hollow in the middle, so that it can receive a jar placed inside it. The poor have one of wood; the rich, of bronze or silver.

§ 5.46   Having, then, discussed the vessel-stand, I will next mention again kings who have been dinner-devotees. To begin with the king who bore the same name as the Antiochus before mentioned, and who was the son of Demetrius: Poseidonius records that he held receptions daily to great crowds; and not counting the heaps of food they consumed, he allowed every one of the feasters to carry home uncarved meat of land-animals, fowls, and creatures of the sea prepared whole, and capable of filling a cart; and after all that, quantities of honey-cakes and wreaths of myrrh and frankincense with matted fillets of gold as long as a man. And another king Antiochus, when he celebrated the games at Daphne, also held brilliant receptions, according to the same Poseidonius: "at the beginning he made distributions, man by man, of uncarved meat; afterwards of live geese, hares, and gazelles. There were also distributed to the diners gold wreaths and a great quantity of silver vessels, slaves, horses, and camels. And it was the duty of each man, after mounting his camel, to drink a toast and accept the camel and everything upon it as well as the attending slave." — "And all the people of Syria," Poseidonius says, "because of the great plenty which their land afforded were relieved of any distress regarding the necessities of life; hence they held many gatherings in order to feast continually, using the gymnasia as mere baths in which they anointed themselves with expensive oil and perfumes, and living in the 'bonds' — for this is the name by which they called the commons where the diners met — as though they were their private houses, and filling their bellies in them, during the greater part of the day, with wines and foods, even taking many things home besides; delighting their ears with sounds from a loudly-struck harp, so that the towns rang throughout with such noises."

§ 5.47   [211a] But I commend, my friends, the symposium held in the palace of Alexander, the king of Syria. This Alexander was son of Antiochus Epiphanes — pretended son . . . wherefore the whole world cherished hatred against Demetrius; concerning him our comrade Athenaeus has made record in his work On the Kings of Syria. This symposium, then, was held somewhat in the following wise: The Epicurean philosopher Diogenes, who had considerable command of the doctrines which he professed, was by birth a native of Seleuceia in Babylonia, and he used to obtain a welcome at the court in spite of the fact that the king delighted it doctrines of the Stoics. Well, Alexander paid him high regard, although he lived a depraved life, and moreover had a slanderous and bitter tongue, not even sparing the royal house if he could provoke a laugh. And once he made request of a favour, strange for a philosopher, that he might wear a purple tunic and a gold crown bearing in the middle the face of Virtue, whose priest he demanded that he should be called; the king granted this, even adding the crown as a special gift. Then Diogenes, falling in love with an actress who played male roles, presented these very things to her. Alexander heard of this, and getting together a dinner party of philosophers and distinguished men, he summoned also Diogenes; when he arrived, the king demanded that he take his place on the couch with the crown and the dress given to him. Diogenes replied that that was inconvenient; whereupon the king with a nod bade the entertainers to be brought in, and among them was the actress of male roles, crowned with the crown of out of, and clad in the purple tunic. A loud burst of laughter broke forth, but Diogenes never stirred, but praised the actress without ceasing. Antiochus, who succeeded to the kingdom, would not tolerate the abusive manners of this Diogenes, and ordered his throat to be cut. But Alexander was gentle in all circumstances, and in his conversation fond of literary subjects; and he was not like Athenion, the Peripatetic philosopher, who had been the head of a philosophic school at Athens and in Messene and again at Larisa, in Thessaly, and afterwards usurped rule over the city of Athens. Concerning him Poseidonius of Apamea records detailed information which, though rather long, I will set forth, because I wish to scrutinize carefully all who profess to be philosophers and not put faith merely in their ragged coats and unshorn beards. For, as Agathon says: "If I speak sooth, I shall not give thee joy; but if I give the joy in any wise, I shall not speak sooth." But surely, as they say, truth is dear; and I will set forth the story of the man as it occurred.

§ 5.48   "To the school of the Peripatetic Erymneus resorted a man named Athenion, who devoted himself sedulously to the philosopher's doctrines. Having purchased an Egyptian slave girl, he lay with her. A son of this woman, whom she bore either by Athenion or someone else, but named after Athenion, was brought up in her master's house. He was taught to read, and when the master grew old he used to lead him by the hand in company with his mother; when the elder Athenion died, the younger became his heir, and was illegally enrolled as a citizen of Athens. He then married a pretty wench, by whose aid he hunted up lads to form a school, and began to practise the profession of a sophist; and after a career as a sophist in Messene and at Larisa, in Thessaly, [212a] he amassed a considerable fortune and returned to Athens. He was then elected an ambassador by the Athenians at the time when their interests were inclining to the side of Mithridates, and insinuating himself in the king's good graces he became one of his intimates, receiving the highest promotion. Wherefore he began through letters to unsettle the Athenians with false hopes, as though he possessed the greatest influence with the Cappadocian monarch — an influence which would enable them not only to live in peace and concord, but even to recover their democratic constitution and receive large doles individually and as a community. All this the Athenians were loudly boasting, convinced that the Roman rule had been completely overthrown.

§ 5.49   When, then, Asia had gone over to the king, Athenion began his return to Athens, but bothered by foul weather he put in to Carystia. When the Cecropids learned that, they sent war-galleys and a litter with silver supports to bring him home. But now he is coming in! More than half the population of the town, nearly, poured out to take part in welcoming him; many others joined the running crowd as sight-seers, marvelling at the incredible turn of fortune, that this upstart Athenion should be conveyed back to Athens on a gold-footed litter and purple rugs — he, who in the earlier days of his ragged coat had never seen purple; and what is more, no Roman had ever insulted Attica by luxuriating in such display. And so they joined the running crowd to see this sight — men, women, children, with highest expectations of Mithridates' bounty, seeing that the poverty-stricken Athenion, who once gave lectures for such fees as he could collect, now parades through town and country with insolent airs on account of the king's favour. He was also met by the artists of Dionysus summoning the messenger of the new Dionysus to come to the public feast and join in the prayers and libations connected therewith. he who had in former days gone forth from a hired house was conducted to the house of Dies, the person who at that time enjoyed great wealth from revenues in Delos; the house was decorated with couches elaborately spread, with paintings and statues and display of silver vessels. From it he emerged trailing a white riding-cloak, his finger encircled with a ring of gold with the portrait of Mithridates engraved upon it; and many slaves preceded and followed him in the procession. In the precinct of the artists of Dionysus sacrifices were held in honour of Athenion's arrival, and libations were poured at the proclamation of a herald. On the next day many came to the house and waited for his coming forth; even the Cerameicus was filled with citizens and foreigners, and there was a spontaneous rush of the crowds to the Assembly. He made his way forward with difficulty, attended by bodyguard of persons who wished to seem great in the eyes of the populace, each one eager just to touch his garments.

§ 5.50   "Mounting, then, the bema built in front of the Stoa of Attalus by the Roman generals, he took his stand upon this and glanced at the throng all bat him; then looking upward, he spoke: 'Men of Athens, the situation of affairs and the interest of my native land compel me to report the facts which I know; and yet the enormous importance of what is to be said, on account of the unexpected turn of circumstances, embarrasses me.' When the crowds standing round shouted to him [213a] to have no fear, but to speak out, he said: 'Very well, then; I speak of things never hoped for or even conceived of in a dream. King Mithradates is master of Bithynia and Upper Cappadocia; he is master of the whole continent of Asia as far as Pamphylia and Cilicia. And kings form his bodyguard, Armenian and Persian, and princes ruling over the tribes who dwell round the Maeotis and the whole of Pontus, making a circuit of three thousand six hundred miles. The Roman commander in Pamphylia, Quintus Oppius, has been delivered up and now follows in his train as a captive; Manius Aquilius, the ex-consul, who celebrated a triumph after his Sicilian campaign, bound hand and foot by a long chain to a Bastarnian seven and a half feet tall, is dragged along on foot by a man on horseback. Of all the other Roman citizens, some are prostrated before the images of the gods, while the rest have changed their dress to square cloaks and once more call themselves by the countries to which they originally belonged. And every community, greeting him with more than human honours, invokes the god-king; oracles from all quarters predict his supremacy over the civilized world. Wherefore he is dispatching great armies even to Thrace and Macedonia, and all parts of Europe have gone over to his side in a body. yes, ambassadors have come to him not only from Italic tribes, but even from the Carthaginians, demanding that they be allies to accomplish the destruction of Rome.'

§ 5.51   "For a little while he paused after these remarks, and allowed the crowds to talk over these tidings, so unexpectedly proclaimed. Then he rubbed his forehead and said: 'What, now, an I to advise you? Tolerate no more the anarchical state of things which the Roman Senate has caused to be extended until such time as it shall decide what form of government we are to have. And let us not permit our holy places to be kept locked against us, our gymnasia in squalid decay, our theatre deserted by the Assembly, our courts voiceless, and the Pnyx, once consecrated to sacred uses by divine oracles, taken away from the people. Nor let us, men of Athens, permit the sacred voice of Iacchus to remain sealed in silence, the august temple of the two Divinities to remain closed, and the schools of the philosophers to stand voiceless.' "Well, after many other deliverances of a like tenor uttered you this gutter-snipe, the mob talked it over among themselves, and with a rush to the theatre all together, they choose Athenion commander of the military forces. And this Peripatetic, coming forward in the theatre 'with a stride like that of Pythocles,' thanked the Athenians and said: 'Today you are your own commanders, although I am at your head. And if you will lend your assistance, I shall have the combined strength of all of you.' With these words, he appointed the other officers in his own interest, proposing by name those whom he desired.

§ 5.52   Not many days after, he made himself dictator — this philosopher who thus illustrated the Pythagorean doctrine regarding treachery, and the meaning of that philosophic system which the noble Pythagoras introduced, as recorded by Theopompus in the eighth book of his Philippica, and by Hermippus, the disciple of Callimachus. [214a] Then this scoundrel, contrary to the precepts of Aristotle and Theophrastus (how true is the proverb which says, 'Don't give a knife to a child!') proceeded immediately to put out of his way the more sober-minded citizens, and set guards at the gates; consequently many Athenians, apprehending what was in store for them, let themselves down over the walls with ropes by night and fled. Then Athenion sent out cavalry after them, killing some, but bringing back others as prisoners; for he had as a bodyguard many of those who are called 'completely armed.' He frequently convoked meetings of the Assembly and pretended to sympathize with the Roman cause. . . . Against many persons he brought accusations to the effect that they were engaged in communicating with those who had been outlawed, and were plotting revolution; so he murdered them. And closing the city gates, he posted thirty guards at each, and would not permit anyone, who desired to go out or to come in, to do so. He would also confiscate the estates of many persons, and amassed so much money that it filled several cisterns. He also sent out into the country persons who acted like highwaymen, intercepting those who came from town and dragging them before him. These he would put to death without trial, after first torturing and tearing them on the rack. Against many also he brought suits for treason, alleging that they were co-operating with the refugees to effect their return. Some of these, in their fear, took to flight before the day of the trial, others were condemned in the courts, he himself taking the votes. Moreover his conveys caused a scarcity of the necessaries of life in the city, and he had to ration barley and wheat in small quantities. He also sent out over the country heavy-armed troops to catch any of those who had withdrawn from the city and might still be within the borders, or any Athenian who was travelling to a refuge beyond the borders. And anyone so caught was flogged to death, although some of them died under torture before they were flogged. he also proclaimed that all should stay indoors after sunset, and nobody might go out even with a lantern.

§ 5.53   And he seized not merely the property of citizens, but presently he took the goods of foreigners as well, reaching out his hands even for the property of the god at Delos. At any rate, he sent to the island Apellicon of Teos, who had been made an Athenian citizen and had run a chequered and novelty-seeking career. When, for example, he professed the Peripatetic philosophy, he bought up Aristotle's library and many other books (for he was very rich) and began surreptitiously to acquire the original copies of the ancient decrees in the Metroon, as well as anything else in other cities which was old and rare. Detected in these acts at Athens, he would have forfeited his life if he had not absconded. But after a short while he returned to Athens again, having won over the favour of many persons; he then enlisted in the cause of Athenion, as one who belonged to the same philosophic sect. Athenion, meanwhile, had forgotten the precepts of the Peripatetic school, and was rationing out a quart of barley every four days to the silly Athenians, giving them food fit for cocks, not human beings. And Apellicon, though he had set out with a military force to Delos, behaved as if he were attending a festival rather than as a true soldier, and, on the side toward the town of Delos, set a guard which was too negligent; as for the regions behind the island, he let them completely unguarded, and went to bed without even throwing up a palisade. [215a] When this came to the knowledge of Orbius, who was the Roman praetor in charge of Delos, he waited for a night when there was no moon; he then led out his troops and attacked the Athenians when they were asleep or carousing, and slaughtered them and their companions in arms like sheep, to the number of six hundred; he also took about four hundred prisoners. And this noble general Apellicon made off from Delos in secret flight. When Orbius observed many others fleeing together for refuge in farm-houses, he burned them up, houses and all, as well as all their appliances for a siege, including the siege-engine which Apellicon had constructed when he came to Delos. So Orbius raised a trophy over those regions and built an altar on which he inscribed: 'These dead which the tomb holds here are strangers who lost their lives in fighting round Delos on the sea, when the Athenians, making common cause with the king of the Cappadocians in battle, wasted the sacred island.'"